


The Prince's Bride

by thevictorianghost



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Luke Skywalker, Especially the end, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, M/M, Paige is non-binary btw, Pansexual Character, Prince Finn (Star Wars), The Princess Bride AU, The Princess Bride References, Zorii Jannah and Rose are in a polyamory relationship, assume no one is straight lol, basically this is what i wanted from the sequel trilogy, biromantic character, either bi pan or ace, forgot to mention that, i changed some things of course, like a straight up AU using a LOT of dialogue from the film, oh well, sigh, the end is VERY different to The Princess Bride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22606114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thevictorianghost/pseuds/thevictorianghost
Summary: The Princess Bride AU.Five years ago, Prince Finn of the Kingdom of Naboo fell in love with Rey, a stable girl who worked on his mothers’ summer estate in the Lake Country. When a mysterious illness struck the kingdom, Rey left home to find a cure, only to be attacked by the infamous Dread Pirate Vader's ship and dying at sea.Five years later, Prince Finn has been requisitioned to be part of King Kylo Ren of Mustafar’s army, plotting against the greater Hosnian Republic to start a war. Prince Finn owes a debt to King Kylo, for he was the one who cured his people - and if he says no, Kylo Ren has vowed to destroy Naboo.When Prince Finn is kidnapped, the Dread Pirate Vader comes to the rescue.Along with smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, his sister Queen Leia of the Kingdom of Alderaan, the Resistance, rebelling Stormtroopers and a little magical help from Miracle Threepio and his husband Artoo, Prince Finn and the Dread Pirate Vader shall win against King Kylo and his accomplices, General Hux, Captain Phasma and Sorcerer Palpatine.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, C-3PO/R2-D2, Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Jannah/Rose Tico, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Maz Kanata/Lor San Tekka, Poe Dameron/Temmin "Snap" Wexley, Zorii Bliss/Jannah, Zorii Bliss/Rose Tico
Comments: 23
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my The Princess Bride AU meets Fix-It Fanfic for the Sequel Trilogy! Mostly inspired by The Force Awakens, though. This is the first multi-chapter fic I've ever finished. Yay me! This has been fully written, I will be posting every week on Friday from now on!
> 
> thevictorianghost

Preface

“Checkmate!”

As her holographic queen caught the computer’s king, Jaina giggled. Hacking coughs broke through her joy. She breathed in deeply, loudly, with her mouth. In... Out. Her nose was still clogged up by this wretched cold. A knock sounded at the door. Mama came in, all lovely smiles as always, carrying a bowl of bone broth she carefully sat down on the bed table. A cool hand pressed against Jaina’s forehead.

“You’re feeling better.”

“A bit?”

“Good. Because your Grandpa is here.”

Jaina jumped up. “Really?” She pressed her nose to the glass of her bedroom pod - which she’d decorated herself, thank you very much! - and looked out over to the breathtaking view of Naboo’s greens and blues, as seen from outer space. “Can we go piloting together, then?” Jaina shot a look at her mother. “Please, please, please, pleeeaaase?”

Mama’s smile shifted. Jaina slumped down on her pillows. Disgusted.

“I’m still too sick, aren’t I?”

“You know it, my little pilot. Come on, sit up. Grandpa wants to tell you a story.”

“A story? From when he was younger?”

“Not quite,” cut in Grandpa, popping his head in the doorway. “I’ve brought you a little something I think you’ll like. A book.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Thus, Mama and Grandpa switched places. His chair screeched on the warmed-up metallic floor and her silhouette leaned in the doorway. She disappeared a moment later. With a _woosh!_ the door closed in horizontally. Grandpa flipped holographic pages trapped inside a glowing spine between his fingers. Jaina wrinkled her nose.

“So you weren’t joking when you talked about a book.”

“That’s right! I know you’re a fan of the HoloNet, but this is a book my father used to read to me when I was sick. And today, I’ll read it to you.”

Jaina pushed down her skepticism and nodded.

“Does it have pilots in it?”

“You mean people who travel the world far and wide? Are you kidding! Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, True Love, miracles. All set in the lovely world of old-fashioned fairy tales.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” she quipped with a cheeky grin. “I’ll try to stay awake.”

Grandpa winked. “Thank you very much.”

He flipped to the first page and pulled out his glasses. 

“Ah, there we are,” Grandpa said, pulling on his debonair smile. “ _The Prince’s Bride._ By G. Lucas. _Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away…_ ”

* * *

Chapter One

Finn was born to House Parnelli of Naboo, one of the main noble families, in the capital city of Theed. While beautiful, dome-covered Theed was, to Finn as a child, stuffy and mostly remembered for endless lessons and boring tutors. 

* * *

“Well, that I can relate to,” said Jaina, rolling her eyes.

“Right, right. Now, shush. Let me continue.”

* * *

At the very end of spring, Theed would become too hot and too crowded with tourists, so his mothers would move on Finn’s birthday from their home in the capital to their summer estate in the Lake Country. That was when the fun began. Breezy days were spent Guarlara riding while evenings flew by playing games of cards. On the last day of such a summer when he was fourteen years old, Finn escaped from his suitcase packing to the beach, dreaming of the sound of waves crashing against the shore. Blue water glistened with white foam in the sun. Finn jumped from rock to rock, arms stretched out around him. 

He almost slipped when he saw her.

“Hello? Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer. The girl, a girl around his age, covered in rags and salt water, was lying upon a half-overturned raft. A thin ribbon of blood dripped into the lake from a wound on the side of her head. Still, the wound wasn’t the part that worried Finn the most. One corner of the wooden raft had caught between two pointed rocks. Water lapped at her feet. Then, what Finn had feared the most happened. The girl fell, slowly, in slow motion, in the water. In the deepest part at the far edge of the shore.

“Wait! Hold up!”

Finn’s heart hammered in his chest. On the slippery rocks, it took him longer than he’d hoped for to reach the spot she’d disappeared in. Finn jumped in after her. He caught the girl somewhere between the surface and the rock bottom. Once her head was out of the water, he swam until his feet touched ground and he carried her to shore. One look at her pulse was negative. The girl wasn’t breathing.

Crossing his hands on her chest, he pushed. One, two, three. Mouth-to-mouth. Push. One, two, three. Nothing. Nothing at all.

“Come on! Wake up!” He looked up and hoped the guards he’d managed to slip away from could hear him. “Help! Somebody, come help!” Looking down at the girl again, he said: “I’m not leaving until you wake up. Come on, miss! Wake up!” 

Mouth-to-mouth. Push. One, two, three. Mouth-to-mouth. Push. One, two, three.

Her eyes opened wide and she spat out lake water.

“Thank the Force! You’re awake. Are you okay?”

She looked at him strangely, critically, as if he’d been the first person ever to ask her that question. Yet, she did not give him an answer.

“Lord Finn!” 

The guards appeared, climbing the hill overlooking the shoreline. 

Not long after, she was taken to the estate’s infirmary while Finn was sent to finish his packing until they knew more about the wounded, half-drowned girl. He obliged, not without some grumbling. Mama appeared at the doorway with a polite smile on her face.

“How is she?” asked Finn without missing a beat.

“She’s fine, but she barely talks. She doesn’t want to talk to us, anyway.”

“I wonder why. Who is she? Why was she there? What-”

“She doesn’t remember anything. But there must be a story there.”

The girl only remembered a name: Rey. No one knew from whence she came from, least of all herself. Some theorized that, somehow, Rey’s raft had found itself travelling from the seas and into the Lake Country through the tunnels that ran under the kingdom, built by its water-based inhabitants, the Gungans. In any case, speculating wouldn’t explain why Rey had ended up on the open sea in such a rickety vessel. A humble family from the village, the Lars, took her in, and with that, Finn left the summer estate for the city. 

Every year after that, during the summer, he’d come to see Rey. Finn became more and more fascinated by her. He’d often see her laugh while walking around the village with her friends, or reading stories to the children gathered around her as she sat upon the main plaza’s fountain. Yet, whenever she’d be near a member of the noble family, Rey would grow quiet. Reserved. Shy, even. So unlike her true self.

Rey never talked to Finn, except for when he asked her to do something. Which happened increasingly more often. Indeed, the year they both turned sixteen (as the date of her birthday was unknown, it became the day Finn found her on the beach, with Rey’s approval), Rey was hired as a stable girl at the estate. Every day he’d make up excuses to see her, to watch her work, and to ask her to do anything that crossed his mind.

So he asked. And asked and asked and asked. Selfishly. But not without purpose. There was a part of Finn that wanted to shake her out of her quiet self. 

“Rey?” he said upon coming home from a ride.

Rey looked up from her work, washing out the stables.

“Polish my Guarlara’s saddle. I want to see my face shining in it by morning.”

“As you wish.”

 _As you wish._ That was all she ever said to him.

Upon returning to Theed that year, Mother was elected Queen Vadessa of Naboo. She would, in time, become the longest reigning Queen of that kingdom, beloved and respected. A kind and caring ruler. But in the meantime, such a prestigious title meant their whole lives changed and their summers in the Lake Country became shorter and shorter. Soon enough, the newly-titled Prince Finn couldn’t see Rey at all anymore. As a dutiful son, he followed the rules, went to his lessons without fail, learned politics, history, dancing, painting, fencing… He even went to balls where suitors were thrown at him. Charming men, elegant women and fantastic people of all genders. They were enchanting perhaps, but none matched this connection he felt with _her._ And he had a suspicion his mothers knew so. Some noble ladies, those from the House of Naberrie, looked enticingly like Rey. 

Balls, lessons, ceremonies, sitting at peace treaties, waving at the crowds during endless parades… Finn did all that was required of him. But as the months and years crawled by, especially around those late spring days, he’d grow melancholic, staring out the windows. For two years, he did so. Until the third year, the one Finn (and, incidentally, Rey) turned nineteen. Mama decided enough was enough. They needed a breath of fresh air.

Finn ran to the stables as soon as his suitcase was put away. 

“Rey?”

Of course he found her there, amidst the smelly Gualaras and the tools. His throat closed up when his eyes landed on her. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t even give him a single look, as usual. Though he could see her knuckles tightening around the straw she’d been twisting into a rope. He looked around, remembering those summers not so long ago when he’d bossed her around and she’d say those words. Those three words. Thinking quickly, Finn grabbed a bucket and dropped it in front of her. 

“Fill this with water.”

She looked up from her work. She didn’t say it. Not yet, at least. The Force be with him, he wanted her to say it. To just… _talk_ to him.

He added, swallowing: “Please?”

A small smile grew at the corner of her mouth.

He definitely was _not_ staring.

“As you wish.”

That day, he was amazed to discover that when she was saying “as you wish”, what she meant was, “I love you.” And even more amazing was the day he realized he truly loved her back. It took him a whole, an entire week to become bold enough - after a lot of “subtle” encouragement from his grinning mothers - to leave her a message. A message that would, eventually, lead her somewhere else. Away from the stables. On the same beach where he’d found her five years ago. Finn expected some amount of surprise coming from her, but she didn’t offer any more reaction than her usual, mostly stoic half-smile. 

They stared at each other.

For a while.

“Rey?”

She blinked. Well, that was more than nothing.

Finn looked around, in desperate need of an idea. He picked up a rock at his feet and dropped it in the lake. A rather pitiful splash echoed.

“Get me that rock. Please.”

At that, Rey smiled. A real smile, showing all her teeth. Cheesy as it may sound, Finn’s heart did a little jump. She walked past him. Grabbed the rock. Mechanically. A well-rehearsed dance. Eyes gleaming, she offered it to him. 

“As you wish,” she said, somewhere between a chuckle and a laugh. Her shoulders slumped down. Rey swallowed. “Your Highness.”

Finn took the rock with shaking fingers. She’d said… she’d said…!

“I...” He racked his brains. “I… huh… didn’t exactly call you here to ask you to give me a wet rock. I’m sorry if I bothered you or you were busy, or I…!”

“ _Finn._ ”

His blood rushed to his ears. Had his heart stopped? Surely it had.

“Yes?”

“You told me in that message to come when I am not busy.”

“I know, but… still.”

“You never bother me.”

“I don’t?”

Rey took the rock from his slack hand, flicked her wrist and threw it back into the lake. It skipped three times before dropping under the surface with a _splash!_

“No, not at all.”

Finn pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He hugged her, breathing in the smell of shoe polish clinging to her neck. Before long, she hugged him back. They stood there a while. Listening to the waves crashing on the shore. Finn pushed back slightly, hands on her hips. Before he knew what was happening, his _face_ was getting closer to hers. 

Closer and closer and closer and...

“Please, say that again,” whispered Finn.

Rey blinked. “Say what? That you don’t bother me?” It seemed that as soon as she started to talk, the words she’d clutched onto for years left her mouth in a flood. “You don’t! I’m sorry. I’ve been a jerk all these years, I’m terrible at communication. But… But I… And… And everyone kept telling me not to get close to the Lord - then the Prince! - because I’d get my heart broken and I’m so sorry I listened, but I really like you and I like the way you laugh and smile and you’re sweet with everyone and-”

“Rey.”

“Yes?”

“I forgive you.”

“You do?”

“Hm, hm. But that’s not what I was asking earlier. My name. Say it again. Please.”

Rey’s smile could have lit twin setting suns in the sky. 

“Finn.”

He kissed her, hands tangling with her hair as hers wrapped around his neck. They...

* * *

“Grandpa!”

Grandpa jumped and almost dropped the book. “What?”

Jaina crossed her arms over her tiny chest. “When does it get good? Where’s the action? Where are the giants and all that stuff you promised me? This is a kissing book!”

“Yes? A little bit. Don’t worry about that, I won’t dwell on it.”

“Good. Continue.”

Grandpa flipped a page over.

* * *

“Since when?” asked Rey, breathless, as she pulled away.

“What?”

“Since when? You… you like me, I think?”

“Oh. Yes! I do!”

Finn’s tongue felt like lead in his mouth. Still, he pushed on:

“Since the day I met you, I think. I just… didn’t know how to say it.”

“You didn’t? But I’m the one who only said ‘as you wish’ to you for five years!”

“Well, let’s just say, I haven’t been very good at communicating, either! I was bossing you around all the time! Give me this, give me that. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

The both of them grinned until they laughed. Awkwardly, but truthfully. A few years of miscommunication were washed away by this laugh, sand upon the shore.

“Look at us,” Finn grinned. “Apologizing again and again. I forgive you and that’s it.”

“And I forgive you too.”

“Great.”

They kissed again. And again, for good measure.

Rey pulled away and she pulled him away in one sweeping move from the beach, too. Hand in his. “For the record, I’m not going to apologize for doing that.”

“Me either.”

“Good. There’s a lot we need to talk about, then.”

“We have a whole summer for that.”

They spent many days and evenings together, with Rey joining in on Finn and his mothers’ Guarlara rides and card games. He joined her in the stables, too, and Finn found out he quite liked getting his hands dirty. They also spent a lot of time talking, about Finn’s lessons and his grand ideas to make Naboo civilians’ lives better and her dreams of travelling around the world… and a lot of time was spent doing _other_ things, too. Like kissing. A lot and a lot of kissing. Nothing more, nothing less. But as it turned out, they didn’t have all summer to enjoy each other’s company. A strange illness hit the Gungan population first, then spread to Theed through the rivers. The sickness walked to the Lake Country’s door, and soon enough, Rey’s adoptive mother woke up with a cough. The next morning, Finn found Rey packing her bags in her small room.

“You’re going.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

“Of course I was going to! I would’ve never left without saying goodbye.”

“You’re not. Because I’m going too. I need to help you find that cure!”

“No, Finn. Your people need you. You’re the Prince. And I’m… I’m no one.”

“Don’t say that about yourself. You’re so much more than that.”

“Well, it’s true!” Rey wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. “In the eyes of Theed’s politicians, I’m no one. Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t have avoided the topic all summer long. It would’ve made this easier.”

“What, like you leaving?”

“It wasn’t planned! But… you know what? It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No, it doesn’t! They never would’ve let a Prince be with a commoner.”

“I don’t care what they think.”

“You do. Your mother’s reign is on the line. And you know it as much as I do.”

“But…”

“Finn, I have to go. I want to. I have to. I’m no one and I don’t have a past and I don’t… I don’t feel like I have a future here, right now. As soon as the summer will be over, you’ll leave and I’ll stay here. And even then, even the next summer, eventually they’ll know about us and the press will too and… I don’t want to put you in a corner.”

Finn’s shoulders slumped. She was right, of course.

“Rey…” He scratched the hairs at the base of his neck. “I don’t want you to leave after we had a fight, okay? I… I love you too much for that.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Truly. I should’ve told you a lot sooner.”

She wrapped her arms around him. He breathed her in, one last time.

“I feel like I’ll never see you again,” he whispered in her ear.

“We will. We’ll see each other again. I believe that.”

“But what if something happened to you?”

She pulled away and looked straight into his eyes. “I’ll always come back.” 

“How can you be sure?”

“This is True Love. You think it happens every day?”

She grabbed her bags and walked to the doorway. Rey stopped. She turned around, face reddened and eyes filled with unshed tears.

“Y’know, my birthday was always bittersweet because I’d have to watch you leave.”

That’s right. Today was Rey’s nineteenth birthday. 

“And now _I’m_ the one who’s leaving. There must be irony in that.”

“Don’t go.”

She looked away. 

“I’m sorry. Take care of yourself. Please.”

And with that, she walked away.

* * *

“Is that how the chapter ends?” asked Jaina, gripping her bed sheets.

“Oh, no,” Grandpa shook his head. “Let me continue. Listen to this: _Rey never reached her destination. Her ship was attacked by the Dread Pirate Vader. He never left captives alive. When Finn got the news that Rey was murdered…”_

Jaina gaped at him. “She was murdered? By pirates?!”

“She was.”

“Wow. This is… getting good!”

“Wonderful that you think so.”

* * *

When Finn got the news that Rey was murdered, he went into his room and shut the door. For days, he neither slept nor ate.

“I’ll never love again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Five years later, Prince Finn is a spy. He is also, as one can be, kidnapped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Happy Friday and happy Valentine's Day to those who celebrate!
> 
> Things are heating up in my Princess Bride AU!

Chapter Two

Five years later, the world had shifted. King Kylo Ren, a cruel and violent man, had decided to put into action his plan of world domination. From his faraway kingdom of Mustafar, a land devastated by hundreds of volcanoes, he’d been plotting. His influence spread to the Tatooine Lands and the Kingdom of Kashyyyk, at the outer rim of the world. The Kingdom of Corellia quickly followed, a land of ruthless thugs and never-ending forests. Only the City-State of Bespin had managed to fend them off. A year after Rey had been murdered and a quarter of Naboo’s population had succumbed to the strange disease, King Kylo Ren arrived on its shores with a miraculous antidote and a letter to ensure that once his kingdom would need their help, they’d come. 

Or else.

Three years after Rey’s death, King Kylo Ren attacked Alderaan, a beautiful land of sweeping valleys and snowy mountains. King Kylo Ren decimated its population, bringing the Royal Family to its knees. Queen Leia was one of the few who escaped, while those that weren’t killed became prisoners in their own kingdom, subject to their new King. A call for help was sent. Those from the Hosnian Republic, the biggest and most peaceful land of all, never answered, too caught up in their own politics and, to be frank, not believing at all that Kylo Ren was a threat. The battalion Naboo was able to send never came back to tell the tale. 

Finally, four years after Rey’s death, King Kylo Ren sent his trusted Captain Phasma to recruit Prince Finn, son of Queen Vadessa and Chief Healer Shandria of House Parnelli. He went barely with any resistance. Phasma made it clear that if he pulled anything suspicious, his people would suffer greatly for it. As Finn and his mothers had speculated for years, the “illness” hadn’t been quite natural after all. Early in the wee hours the next morning, Prince Finn was packing his bags. His mothers walked in, their chemises not enough to shield them from the cool air coming from the opened window. None of them cared about the cold. Mother wrapped her arms around him, saying goodbye not as Queen, but as a mom.

“Please,” she whispered in the crook of his neck. “I can’t lose my son, too.”

“You won’t lose me, Mother. I’ll be back.”

“How can you be so sure?

Something tugged at his heart. Those words… he remembered them well.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

The next day Finn arrived by boat at King Kylo Ren’s Castle in New Mustafar, formerly known as Alda, Alderaan’s capital. A day after he was recruited by King Kylo Ren, Prince Finn was introduced to the people of Alderaan, those obedient enough they could be trusted in the castle’s walls, anyway. Trumpets sounded. Prince Finn walked out on a stage wearing his royal clothes, and King Kylo Ren, from up on a tower, said:

“My people. Prince Finn of Naboo has decided he will sign a treaty with your Supreme Leader, King Kylo Ren. This alliance will bring peace and control over a world dominated by chaos. Long live Prince Finn!”

“Long live the King!” answered the crowd.

It didn’t take Finn long to assess the situation. The first day, he learned Kylo Ren was a wanna-be tyrant. Sorcerer Palpatine, while strong with the Force, was mostly a strategist. General Hux loved nothing more than to bicker with his King. Captain Phasma was one of the few competent ones around here it seemed. She kept a cool head at all times, under her silver helmet. The next day Finn was aware that a resistance had started to form, born to the exiled Queen Leia of Alderaan. A week after starting to “work with” King Kylo Ren, Finn was already leaking information to Queen Leia.

* * *

“Okay, so, let me recap,” said Jaina. “Rey was killed by pirates and Finn is a spy?”

“That’s the gist of it, yes.”

“This is really, really getting good! I like that.”

“Thank you for your patience, young lady. Now, let’s keep going…”

* * *

A few months later, Finn sat in the conference room on Captain Phasma’s right. He tapped his foot a silently as he could. When was that way too early meeting going to end? He hadn’t received any word from the Resistance about the latest attack and it grated on his nerves. Were they all right? Safe? He couldn’t know. All he ever did was sit here and listen to them hatch their evil plans for world domination. 

Besides, he didn’t want to admit it. But whatever he was feeling, which was not nervousness, right this moment?

Was boredom.

Finn stifled a yawn. Who knew plotting to take over the world could be so boring?

“And that is why we need to attack that settlement.”

Hux stood up to be at King Kylo Ren’s (relative) height.

“With all due respect, I absolutely do not think that’s a feasible plan, _my King._ ”

“Why would you say that, _General?_ ”

Finn rolled his eyes. Someone’s groan turned into a cough. Nice save. 

Finn was one second away from calling the two of them out on their pathetic bluff. He didn’t have the chance. The doors burst open. _Bang!_ All jumped as the doors slammed against the walls. Heads turned lightning fast on poor stiff necks.

“My King!” 

“Yes?”

The Stormtrooper bowed. Two other Stormtroopers crossed the room. But that wasn’t what made eyebrows shoot to hairlines and eyes widen. The Stormtroopers weren’t alone. They were both holding a captured Resistance fighter. He was brought to King Kylo Ren and kicked to the ground. Finn’s heart dropped. The man’s name was Poe Dameron and he’d been one of Finn’s main link with the Resistance, along with Lando Calrissian. As soon as Finn saw him, in chains, he knew he had to act. If anyone found out Prince Finn of Naboo was a spy… or if his valuable information couldn’t reach Leia… the war would inevitably turn in King Kylo Ren’s favor. And he couldn’t let that happen. Not in good conscience.

“So, who talks first?” Dameron said. “You talk first? I talk first?”

“Poe Dameron,” cut in King Kylo Ren. Standing there with his shoulders squared and mouth in a pout, he tried to look defiant, but without his signature mask, the effect was a bit lost. “The Resistance’s best fighter, or so I’ve heard.”

“You’ve heard of me. I’m flattered. So you’re the infamous Kylo Ren? I don’t know. I was expecting… someone a little less shaved, I guess.”

General Hux swallowed a laugh.

King Kylo’s face twisted in disgust. “Take him, away, Stormtroopers. You know where. Everyone else, the meeting is adjourned. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

 _Finally!_ Finn walked away. A little fast. Not too fast as to look suspicious. But fast nonetheless. He had barely made it back to his rooms when he put on his riding boots.

“I’m going on a Guarlara ride,” Finn not-so-much lied, pulling on his cloak of shimmering pink. “I’ll be back in maybe an hour, I just need some fresh air. Is that okay?”

The Stormtrooper hired to watch over him barely nodded. FN-2003 was currently curled up in a chair at the door outside his rooms and had been doing so for as long as his shift had started. Sometimes, the man fell asleep in his helmet. 

Good for Finn. It made it easier to sneak around.

Finn knew exactly where he’d find Poe Dameron. In the dungeons. More specifically, in the biggest part of the dungeon. The one that King Kylo Ren, subtle as always, had dubbed “the Pit of Despair”. No one - not the servants and certainly not the Stormtroopers - even glanced Finn’s way as he walked down the castle’s long hallways. Being on King Kylo Ren's council had one advantage, at the very least. None wanted to even think about getting on the man's bad side. Right before he got to the door, Finn stopped at an alcove and hid in the shadows. Muffled screams echoed in his ear. King Kylo Ren’s imposing figure stormed past him, clad in black with that terrifying mask covering his face. 

Phew. Disaster avoided.

Finn slid inside the Pit of Despair. Spiders spinning their cobwebs clung to rotting rafters and rats squeaked in the lights of a few dozen candles, scattered around the cold torture chamber. It was never locked. Such a room terrified the most curious soul in the castle. Finn sprinted down the stairs and walked around a few desks covered in old parchment and books, telling the tales of Sorcerers and their Dark uses of the Force. He jogged to Poe Dameron, tied to the dreaded Machine. Finn winced at the sight. Poe Dameron looked... weak. For lack of a better word. Sweaty and tired. Electrodes poked at his torso’s bare skin. The poor man looked like he’d lost a year of his life. At the very least.

“Poe Dameron? I’m here to rescue you.”

Poe’s glazed-over eyes focussed on Finn as soon as the ropes were off.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Finn Parnelli.”

“The Prince from Naboo?”

Finn finished untying Poe and gave him his shirt, left abandoned on the floor. 

“I am. Come on, quick! There’s no time to waste. Captain Phasma will be here any minute to get you to a cell. You see that door? Over there?”

“Yes?”

“That’s the way out. It’ll lead you to the hills outside Alda. Are you… will you… You’ll be able to make your way to the Resistance from there?”

Dameron gaped at him. “You’re the spy in Kylo Ren’s ranks.”

Finn faced him with unwavering courage. “I am.”

“But… why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Now. Can you get to the Resistance?”

“I can. And even if I can’t… I have to.”

“Good. Wait! Take this.”

Finn reached into a pocket of his purple trousers. A brooch emblazoned with the Parnelli family crest glittered in the morning light.

“Take this. They’ll know what this means. Tell Lando Calrissian thank you.”

Poe Dameron took the offered jewelry with revering hands. “Thank you.”

“Now, go! Hurry!”

Poe Dameron opened the secret door and disappeared. Finn was about to head out through the door King Kylo Ren had walked through earlier when his head spun on his neck. Someone was coming. Heavy footsteps echoed. Finn jumped under a desk at the very last second. Holding his breath, he looked at the person with his peripheral vision.

There she was. Captain Phasma.

She stopped in the doorway. And turned around. Almost fleeing.

“The prisoner has escaped!” she called. “I repeat: the prisoner has escaped!”

The three Stormtroopers who were with her ran out the door through which Dameron had escaped. Phasma herself walked away to alert the others. The castle would be searched “from top to bottom!” Under the desk, Finn waited. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The pounding of her footsteps marching on the stone floor faded with each passing second. Soon, he stole a glance from his hiding spot. A rat squealed past him. Phasma was gone. 

Finn hoped Dameron would make it out fine. But he couldn’t dwell on that thought. Now was the time to disappear, too. Not too suspiciously, though.

Finn made his way back up to where morning light filtered through the windows. He walked at a scientifically-calculated leisured pace through the labyrinthine hallwalls. Everyone else was on edge. Stormtroopers ran around. Servants cowered in corners. Somewhere, Palpatine’s bloodcurdling laugh echoed. Finn kept going as if nothing was wrong, until he couldn’t help but frown. He only stopped to ask a servant what the fuss was about when he saw Hux at the end of a hallway. The servant explained. Finn’s eyes found General Hux’s. They nodded at each other before walking away.

Finn hoped his alibi would hold. 

In the courtyard, chaos reigned. Today was market day, when only the most trusted merchants could come and sell their produce to the castle. Stormtroopers pulled stalls apart and pushed produce aside. Cries came from the outraged merchants. Finn avoided it all, making a hrelan beeline to the stables. No matter the situation at hand, he stopped in the doorway. His heart ached every time he walked in here. Everything smelled of Rey. He could almost see her there, tending to a Guarlara, laughing when it licked her ear. Pushing the memory aside, Finn crossed the room to his favorite mount’s box. She groaned in greeting.

“Yes, Tivi. Hello. Hi. We’re going for a ride. You’re ready?”

Tivi groaned again. Finn opened the stall. Saddling Tivi had become second nature to him. She was one of the only things he’d brought home from Naboo. His trusted steed. His daily rides through the countryside - only allowed because he always had something helpful to say in meetings - were the only source of joy he felt these days.

“Yah!”

Tivi galloped outside the stables, bringing even more chaos to the marketplace. Tivi’s long hairy tail flicked from left to right in warning. Merchants ran out of her path. Children screeched in delight, pointing at her horns and furry hooves. Most adults, though, averted their eyes. No one wanted to get on King Kylo Ren’s bad side. And making one of his most trusted council members angry was a way to do that. 

Guarlara and rider crossed the village, galloped past the bridge sprawling over the bride, and finally, finally, they were in the countryside proper. Finn wondered if he should try to find Poe Dameron, but quickly thought otherwise. If they were even remotely spotted near each other, his cover would be blown. The Resistance couldn’t afford that. They’d already prevented countless deaths on Alderaanian soil and especially on the outskirts of the Hosnian Republic. Knowing King Kylo Ren would stop at nothing to take over the world made him shiver. So Finn pushed Tivi to the limit, faster, further and farther than they’d ever gone before on their morning rides. His hands gripped the reins tighter, too tight. His fingers ached when he stopped Tivi in the woods, somewhere east of the castle.

A Hutt, two elderly men and a Wookiee faced him.

Yes, that sounded like a “people walk into a bar joke”. It really wasn’t.

“A word, My Lord?” said the Hutt.

Finn nodded. There was something that told him these people weren’t any good. Call it an intuition. Not all was bad, though. At least, he could understand what the Hutt was saying. He’d learned Huttese from one of his many princely lessons.

“We are but poor, lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?”

“There is nothing, nearby. Not for miles.”

The Wookiee walked up to him. Tivi made a _eek!_ sound. She was scared.

“Then there can be no one to hear you scream.”

Finn screamed. But a paw reached for the back of his neck. Everything turned black.

* * *

“Cut. The masked woman…”

“What do you mean?” Jaina cut Grandpa off. “The masked woman? Who’s that?”

“We’re…” Grandpa looked from left to right. “We’re not in the same point of view anymore.”

“So we won’t know what happens to Finn? He just got attacked!”

“I know. Be patient. We’ll come back to him. Eventually.”

She pouted, head resting on her fists. “Okay. Continue.”

* * *

The masked woman sneaked into the streets of Theed. In broad daylight, it wasn’t exactly easy, especially because she was wearing all black and wore a mask over her face. But Theed was different since the last time she’d been. People kept their heads bowed. No children played in the streets. Stormtroopers could be seen outside bars and cafés, stealing glances at those passing by. The Queen’s son, Prince Finn, had joined Kylo Ren to protect his people, yet hadn’t been trusted enough not to start a Resistance. The people of Naboo desperately clung to normalcy in these trying times. And normalcy meant that anything suspicious had to be avoided at all costs. No one wanted to be on Ren’s bad side. 

This meant that the masked woman reached the Palace soon enough. Using a grappling hook, she climbed the walls into an abandoned bedroom. Prince Finn’s bedroom. The bed was still made. Dust had been swept away. Honestly, had she known it’d be so easy to get in and out of the Palace, the masked woman would’ve stolen here more often.

“He’s not here,” said a voice.

The masked woman whirled around. There, sitting in a rocking chair in a corner, was none other than Queen Vadessa of Naboo. She rose to her feet, gold and green skirts rustling against the floor. She wasn’t getting any younger, but those eyes never aged. Queen Vadessa pinned the intruder to the spot with a critical stare. Her mouth formed a thin line. They stood there, at a standstill, for what felt like an eternity.

“Don’t worry; I won’t call for the guards.” Queen Vadessa coughed. Hollow, deep in the chest. A hand held her against the wall. She swallowed. “Then again, I’m sure my wife would say that’s a terrible idea. I’ve always had a lack of self-preservation.”

The masked woman knew the Queen was sick. But that wasn’t the point of this visit.

“Have you?”

“I have. But the old Queen isn’t what brought you here, to this abandoned room in the Palace. Am I wrong?” When the masked woman nodded negatively, she pushed on: “You’ve come to kidnap my son. Haven’t you? Dread Pirate Vader.”

“Let’s just say, he owes me a debt.”

Queen Vadessa shrugged. A strangely ordinary gesture for a woman of such a high rank. “I’ve heard many stories about your exploits in piracy. I’ve heard that you were a man, though correct me if I’m wrong, that rumour might have been mistaken. Am I wrong?”

“No.”

“Then some of those stories were elaborate tales to rob a woman of her accomplishments, it seems. Legends speak of an elderly man, long beard whipping in the wind, as he readies himself to pounce on the next unfortunate ship crossing his path. Though…” The Queen chuckled. “I presume that story _might_ be exaggerated, too. You’re awfully young to be a septuagenarian.” The Queen’s whole face settled with seriousness, gleaming eyes turning sharp. “I’ve also heard you never leave prisoners. Are you going to kill me, like you’ve killed my son’s True Love?”

The Dread Pirate Vader blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You must not. That happened over five years ago.”

The Dread Pirate Vader’s mouth curled upwards. Cheeky. 

“I’ve killed many people in my life, I don’t remember every single one of them.”

“What a shame. That lass was a good one.”

The two women stared at each other some more.

“What are you really doing here?” finally asked Queen Vadessa. “My son’s been taken to Alderaan years ago. Surely a woman such as yourself must know this. So what are you really looking for, Dread Pirate Vader?”

“Honestly, I’m wondering the same thing.”

Queen Vadessa crossed the room. The Dread Pirate Vader put a hand on the hilt of her sword, but didn’t unsheath it. She stared, muscles tight, a tusk cat ready to pounce. Or bolt, whichever suited its needs. Queen Vadessa stopped an arm’s length from the Dread Pirate Vader, a hand fishing for something in the pocket of her skirt. Then, she opened her hand and offered a brooch. Embellished with the Parnelli House crest in gold over light pink. 

The Dread Pirate Vader swallowed. Her hand hovered above the brooch. Her eyes turned upwards when the Queen spoke again.

“You’re working with the Resistance.” It wasn’t a question.

The Dread Pirate Vader clenched her hand into a fist, right above the Queen’s offered hand. “What makes you say that?”

“You haven’t killed me yet.”

The Dread Pirate Vader put a hand on her hips. No need to hide where her loyalties lay. Queen Vadessa was an intelligent woman; she’d see right through a lie. The Dread Pirate Vader picked the brooch and ran a gloved thumb over its surface. She held a breath before she pushed it out through her nose. That thing must’ve cost an arm and a leg. Multiple arms and multiple legs. And a head too, for good measure.

“What if I am?”

“Then you can help my son. He’s in danger.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Queen Vadessa frowned and lines bloomed over her tired face. “Anyone in King Kylo Ren’s clutches is in grave danger. Help him, please.”

“... I shall.”

Almost awkwardly, if it wasn’t for the fact she moved with the agility of a tusk cat, the Dread Pirate Vader walked back to the window she’d left open. She shot one last look at Queen Vadessa. She stood at the door, watching her. Calculating her next move. The Dread Pirate Vader quite liked that woman. She was shrewd, unlike that cruel Ren.

“I wish you safe travels. May the Force be with you,” Queen Vadessa said cryptically.

“... You too.”

The Dread Pirate Vader jumped out the window and disappeared in an alleyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Finn meets his captors and Poe Dameron makes his way back home.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Jabba the Hutt ripped a piece of red fabric and attached it to the Prince’s Guarlara. Chewbacca the Wookiee boarded the boat with a still unconscious Prince Finn in his arms. Han Solo finished packing and barely sent him a glance. Luke Skywalker, the second human man aboard, sent Jabba a glance before asking, with a certain note of disgust:

“What is that you’re ripping?”

“It’s fabric from the uniform of an army officer of Hosnian,” the Hutt answered matter-of-factly, as if he should’ve known that already. 

Chewbacca growled. It was a miracle Prince Finn didn’t stir.

“He’s asking who’s Hosnian,” translated Han.

“The country across the sea, the sworn enemy of Alderaan!”

“I thought Alderaan and the Hosnian Republic were allies,” pointed out Luke.

“Not since King Kylo Ren took control.” To the Guarlara, he said: “Go!” Jabba smacked its backside. She disappeared amongst the trees. 

Luke snapped his finger and pointed at Jabba. “Right! Right. That’s true.”

Jabba mumbled something under his breath. Probably wondering how anyone could just… _forget_ King Kylo Ren had invaded Alderaan not so long ago.

That was the point, though. 

Making his way up the pier and onto the ship, Jabba explained further: “Once the Guarlara makes its way back to the castle, the fabric will make King Kylo Ren suspect the Hosnians abducted the prince. When he finds his body dead deep in Hosnian territory, at the foot of the capital’s mountains, his suspicions will be totally confirmed.”

Chewbacca growled again. 

Han translated: “You never said anything about killing anyone.”

“I've hired you to help me start a war.” The Hutt sat in a corner of the ship, tiny hands waving in the air. “It's a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition.”

Chewie groaned. Thankfully, Luke spoke Shyriiwook, something Jabba didn’t feel the need to learn. So he understood just fine what Chewie said, even before Han translated. “I just don't think it's right, killing an innocent boy.”

Jabba’s eye twitched. “Am I going mad, or did the word _think_ escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you Mott-ish land mass!”

Luke jumped down from his perch near the sail. “I agree with Chewie and Han.”

“Oh! The Banta fodder has spoken!” Jabba looked Luke over cruelly. “What happens to him is not truly your concern. _I_ will kill him.” He turned his head to Han and pointed. “And remember this, never forget this: when I found you, you were so slobbering drunk, you couldn't buy Jawa Juice! I can’t believe that Wookiee still follows you around.” He turned to Luke. “And you! Friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were: unemployed, in the Tatooine Desert?”

“I wasn’t unemployed,” argued Luke. “I was a farm boy.”

“That’s the same thing to me.”

Jabba the Hutt closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he was snoring. Luke reached out surreptitiously with the Force - in another world it might have been called “Magic” - and covered Prince Finn’s body with a blanket. Leaning against the taffrail, he looked out onto the water. The memories of sandy deserts made him shiver. He took a deep breath. Salty air tickled his beard. Luke really felt at home here, aboard a ship, with the creaking of the rigging and the whistle of the breeze as company. He hadn’t thought he’d be back on a boat anytime soon. His dreams of retiring to the small island of Ahch-To had taken quite a turn.

“That Jabba,” said Han, “he can fuss.”

A growl. Han translated, probably in full knowledge that that would make Jabba absolutely furious.“Fuss, fuss… I think he likes to scream… at us.”

Han grinned. “Probably he means no harm.”

Another growl. “He's really very short on... charm.”

“You have a great gift for rhyme.”

“Yes, yes,” Chewbacca grabbed the wheel with his big paws and started to turn, while Han gave him a hand. “Some of the time.”

Jabba stirred in his sleep.

“Enough of that!”

Luke decided he quite liked irritating Jabba. So he asked:

“Chewie, are there rocks ahead?

“If there are, we all be dead!”

“No more rhymes now, I mean it!”

“Anybody want a peanut?”

Jabba screeched: “DYEEAAHHHHHH!!”

* * *

Finn groaned. His head hurt. Dizziness prevented him from opening his eyes. Instead, he tried to deduce his surroundings. There was only darkness behind his eyelids. No red. So there was no sun out. He’d slept through the day. The surface upon which he lied rocked gently up and down, left to right. He could hear the rustling of the breeze. The air smelled of salt. Water. He was on a boat. He’d been kidnapped and put on a boat.

The question was: why?

Slowly, Finn opened his eyes. Yes. Those were ropes. And those were white sails. Wooden planks were all around, as were crates and boxes. A shipping boat, maybe? A hand reaching for the back of his head, Finn sat up. Someone moved, next to him. Finn panicked. He backed away quickly, sliding down the deck, and hit his head against a crate. Ow! Great. _Wonderful._ That would help with the headache. 

“Careful, now,” said a man’s soft voice. 

One of the crewmembers sat next to him. Finn looked him over. The man didn’t look… threatening. He looked more like a grandfather. Or maybe a favorite uncle. All burly beard and sparkling eyes. The man gathered his tattered robe around himself. His hands peeked out from the big sleeves. One was of flesh, the other was made of shining silver. Both palms were up. A peace offering.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Your name’s Finn, right? Can I call you Finn?”

“It’s _Your Highness._ ”

The man chuckled. “Right, right. Your Highness. Pardon my lack of decorum. My name’s Luke Skywalker. But you can call me Luke. Or Mr. Skywalker. Or just Skywalker. Whatever you prefer. That over there? You see that man? That’s my friend Han. Han Solo. And that over there is Chewbacca. And that’s Jabba the Hutt. We won’t hurt you, Your Highness. I promise. Be careful with Chewie, though.” Using his silver hand to half-cover his face, Luke stage-whispered: “He’s a sore loser at chess!”

Despite himself, Finn let out a breathy laugh. His throat ached. 

“Oh!” Luke jumped up. “You’re probably thirsty. Let me get you something.” He was back a moment later with a bottle of cheap wine. “That’s all we have, sorry. Water tends to get stagnant when on a ship. I’m sure you don’t mind some alcohol?”

“Not if you want to make me drunk.”

Finn accepted the offered bottle. It uncorked with a _pop!_ He sniffed it. 

“It’s not poisoned, if you’re wondering.” Luke cocked his head to the side, as if to concede a point. Like an afterthought, he added: “If you don’t consider bad wine poison.”

“Are you pirates?” Finn took a swig. He grimaced. “That’s terrible wine.”

“Are we pirates?” Luke’s eyes twinkled. He took the bottle Finn was offering him and drank some himself. He did three _tsks_ with his tongue. “Maybe. Maybe not. What difference would it make? You’re still stuck on a boat with the four of us.”

“Not out of choice.”

Luke shrugged, palms up, still holding the bottle. “That’s fair. Where are you from?”

Finn squinted his eyes. The man put a hand on his chest.

“Silly me! You’re from the Naboo Kingdom! Of course. Do you miss it?”

“Every day. Are you from the Tatooine Lands?”

Luke’s expression turned nostalgic. He gave the bottle to Finn, who took another swig. That thing wouldn’t taste good any time soon.

“Not of birth. But I grew up there. A hovel of a place. You wouldn’t like it.”

“You don’t miss anything?”

“Not much. What about you? Got a special someone over there you miss?”

Finn arched an eyebrow. 

“What? I’m only asking! You don’t have to answer. But I’ve heard a lot about you. Prince Finn. A man who turns heads when he walks into a room. Was there someone that caught your fancy? A noble, perhaps?” Luke tapped his nose. “How about… a stable girl?”

An old wound flared up in Finn. “What do you know about that?”

“Nothing. Lucky guess! How is she?”

“She was… everything I dreamed of. But she’s dead now.”

Luke looked sincerely saddened. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. What about you? Got anyone in your life?”

“Nah.” Luke took the bottle and drank. Sighing, satisfied, he added: “Not my thing.”

“Good.” 

Once the bottle was empty, Finn and Luke fell silent. Finn looked around. Luke hadn’t seemed threatening, but when he moved to the side, Finn noticed a beautiful sword clinging to his waist. He’d heard a Wookiee could do terrible things to humans. And he could bet that crossbow could do some damage. Hutts were notorious for their viciousness and sharp minds. And a menacing-looking knife peeked out from inside Solo’s boot. Finn listened and looked. Waves crashed against the hull. The light of a lantern cast its orange glow upon the deck. Beyond, there was nothing but black and blue, tinged with white from the light of the moon.

“We'll reach the cliffs by dawn,” said Jabba. Taking one look at Han, standing at the stern, he said: “Why are you doing that?”

“Are you sure nobody's following us?” asked Solo in return, looking behind them.

“That would be inconceivable.”

“Despite what you think,” cut in Finn, “you will be caught. And when you are, King Kylo Ren will see you all hanged. Or worse.”

Finn almost sent Luke an apologetic glance. He already liked the man.

“Of all the necks on this boat, Highness,” said Jabba, with distinct mockery in his voice, “the one you should be worrying about is your own.” He took a pause and looked back at Han. “Stop doing that! We can all relax, it's almost over.”

“You are sure nobody's following us?”

Jabba the Hutt huffed. “As I told you, Solo, it would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways, inconceivable. No one in Hosnian knows what we've done, and no one in Alderaan could've gotten here so fast.”

Finn frowned. Solo. Han Solo. That name rang a bell. But why? 

“Out of curiosity,” said Jabba, “why do you ask?”

“No reason. Suddenly, I just happen to look behind us and something is there.”

An idea sprang up in Finn’s head. More a realization, really. If he didn’t flee now, he’d be dead by morning. Or in a few days. Anyway, he’d be dead soon. 

“Probably some local fisherman out for a pleasure cruise at night…” Jabba cleared his throat. “...through Colo claw fish-infested waters.”

Finn took that as his cue. He dived overboard. Cold water hit his body with more force than he’d anticipated, knocking the air out of his lungs. Still, he started to swim. As fast as he could. Away from the boat, away from his kidnappers.

“Wha-wh!-” came Jabba’s voice. “Go in! Get after him!”

Luke answered: “I don’t swim.”

Chewie groaned. Solo translated: “He only dog paddles. And me too, by the way.”

“VEER LEFT! LEFT! LEFT!” 

A high-pitched yowl came from the water. The haunted screams of those who had jumped overboard, like him. Or those who had been pushed. Finn stopped, kicking the water with his feet to keep his head afloat. He looked around, but couldn’t see what made these noises. He had a faint idea, though. Old tales from around the fire, at the summer estate in the Lake Country in the Kingdom of Naboo, came back to mind. Tales of sea monsters, waiting to eat any who crossed their paths.

“Do you know what that sound is, Highness?” said Jabba. “Those are the Colo claw fish. Monsters with bioluminescent skin. If you don't believe me, just wait! They always grow louder when they're about to feed on human flesh.”

At that moment, a gigantic glowing fish swam past next to him. Finn gasped. So the tales were true. The Colo fish had claw-like mandibles and a crocodile’s mouth. Enormous teeth that ripped through flesh. But not before it released a venomous poison that stunned their prey before they were eaten. Finn looked back at the ship. Was it better to be there with men who wanted to kill him, or in the water with fish that would eat him? Choices, choices.

“If you swim back now,” continued Jabba, “I promise, no harm will come to you. I doubt you'll get such an offer from the fish.”

One, two, three. Now an army of Colo claw fish surrounded him. One of them veered around towards him. Finn wanted to get away. He really did. But he found out he couldn’t. Fear pinned him to the spot. The fish swam with surprising ease and opened wide its mouth. 

Sharp white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

* * *

“You know,” said Grandpa, “he doesn't get eaten by the fish at this time.”

Jaina blinked herself out of her trance. “What?”

“The fish doesn't get Finn. Now, I'm explaining to you because you look nervous.”

Self-righteous pride flooded Jaina. “I wasn't nervous. Well, maybe I was a little bit concerned, but that's not the same thing.”

“Hm, hm. Because we can stop now if you want.”

“No, you could read a little bit more.” She paused, then added: “If you want.”

“All right. Now, where were we?”

* * *

Sharp white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

A crossbow bolt hit the fish right between the eyes. Finn was lifted out of the water, as easily as if he were a sack of flour. Or a rag doll in the hands of a child.

“Put him down, just put him down!”

Once the deck floor was under his feet, Finn scuttled to a corner between two crates, limbs huddled together. Finn didn’t mind the shivering, all he wanted was to get away from them. Somehow, he thought he’d heard Solo say something about the person following them again, and Jabba screeching to shut up, but he wasn’t certain. Maybe that was all in his head. He gazed at Chewbacca, who barely sent him a glance. A blanket was put over him. Finn looked up at Luke, who walked away with a wink.

Jabba hunched down in front of Finn, his vertical eyes gleaming at him. His mouth was pressed into a thin line. Nostrils flared, he said:

“I suppose you think you're brave, don't you?”

Finn lifted his chin at Jabba. “Only compared to some.”

* * *

Speaking of some brave ones, Poe Dameron arrived at the Resistance hideout in the small Kingdom of Corellia at precisely that time. He’d borrowed a ship to go around the Alderaanian mountains and now here he was, in the neighbouring country. Tired, parched and barely able to put a foot in front of the other, but still, he arrived. 

Even in the middle of the night, there was always someone up. It didn’t take long for word to travel that Poe was back home. Everyone walked out to greet him with a pat on the back or a hug. Jessika was first, hugging him something fierce. She’d always been one of his closest friends; that hadn’t changed in the last few days. Admiral Ackbar offered him an awkward Mon Calamari handshake. Lando Calrissian laughed upon seeing him, a good-natured laugh, and he smacked Poe on the shoulder. 

“Finn Parnelli says hi.” 

Lando’s eyes widened. He smiled once more and hugged Poe.

“Thanks for telling me. I’ll tell him you’re safe next time I write him.”

Paige came in next. They offered him a quick hug, covered in grease from oiling the machines. Poe smiled when Jannah, Zorii and Rose arrived, holding hands. The three girlfriends engulfed him in their own hugs. The crowd gathered around them parted when someone else arrived. A little buddy running on unstable legs.

“Nathan! Baby Nate! You’re here!”

“Papi!”

Poe fell to his knees. The two-year-old boy ran right into his arms. Poe grunted and threw himself backwards. His eyes filled with water. He’d feared never to see his son again. Now that fear was squashed. For the time being, at least.

“Poe!”

Poe rose to his feet. All without losing his grip on his son. Salty tears finally blurred his vision when he saw who was coming next. His husband, Temmin “Snap” Wexley, wrapped his arms around the three of them. Temmin kissed Poe full on the mouth without a care in the world. No one whooped, no one teased. Everyone knew how important this was for the two of them. It was a long kiss, the desperate kind, the kind when you weren’t sure you would ever see them again, definitely not a dry kiss. Temmin hugged him again. They stood there like that, unable to move, surrounded by the crowd. There wasn’t a dry eye amongst the Resistance fighters. Everyone knew what happened to those who were captured by King Kylo Ren. Few lived to tell the tale. To make it back to base without too much bruising was nothing short of a miracle.

“Poe. You made it back.”

Temmin took Nate in his arms and moved aside. Poe bowed to Queen Leia of Alderaan. The chief engineer of the Resistance. She didn’t look much like a Queen right now though. Pink curlers stuck out through her hair. Queen Leia had hastily thrown a shawl over her white chemise before walking outside. Barefoot. She put a hand on Poe’s shoulder. He pulled himself to his full height and she hugged him.

“It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too. Your Majesty.” A small, polite but genuine smile, spread on his face. He quickly wiped at his eyes with one clenched fist.

She pulled away, looking up at him with concern.

“What happened? How did you make it back?”

“Someone helped me.”

She squinted her eyes at him. 

“Who?”

Poe reached into his deepest pocket. His hand curled around Prince Finn’s brooch. His body almost fell over with relief. He still had it. Thank the Force, he still had it. Poe gave the royal brooch to her. People gasped all around. Everyone knew what it meant.

“That’s the crest of…!” said Admiral Ackbar.

“Right, right, I know, Admiral,” cut in Leia. “I hope our key spy hasn’t been compromised. Temmin? Get this poor man to a bed, please. He’s going to keel over any second. Everyone else? Go to sleep. I’ll take care of this.”

“Yes, my Queen.”

The last thing Poe saw before he fell asleep on his own two feet was Queen Leia retrieving to her quarters. He was free. He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: The Cliffs of Insanity.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Han had a bad feeling about this.

Their little vessel left the Colo claw fish-infested waters and the haunting screaming could no longer be heard. Yet the boat he’d spotted earlier was still following after them. It glided over the water with surprising ease, barely making any ripples in the clear water. A shiver ran down his spine. Han Solo was no suspicious man - leave that to Luke and his Force susceptibility or whatever it was called, that was all mumbo jumbo to him - but that boat meant nothing good. And Han knew a lot about sailing. He was a smuggler by training with years of experience on the job for a reason, after all. 

Yet that boat, that small sail with that small hull, manned by one man, was still following. There was something supernatural, if not fishy, about that.

“Look! He’s right on top of us!” he called over his shoulder. Han held onto the rope, guiding their boat closer and closer to shore. Soon, they would arrive on Hosnian land. 

Luke thought aloud: “I wonder if _ he’s _ using the same wind we are using.”

Han wondered why Luke had put so much emphasis on the word  _ he. _

“Whoever he is,” answered Jabba, licking his ugly lips with his uglier tongue, “he's too late.” He pointed before them. “See? The Cliffs of Insanity!”

Jabba was right. He had to admit it. No matter how sick doing so made Han. They reached the Hosnian Republic at the crack of dawn. The Cliffs of Insanity loomed over them, impossibly tall and impossibly flat. Orange and pink skies made the grey cliffs a little less intimidating, at least. Still, their shadows spread over the glistening water. They hid dreadfully sharp rocks sticking out of the sea. Any sailor without as much experience as he would’ve crashed against the many thin pillars stretching towards the rising sun.

“Hurry up!” Jabba clapped his little hands, sliding down the deck. He was fast, for a glorified slug. Chewie, Luke and Han went to work without much grumbling. Except maybe for Chewie. But at least Jabba couldn’t understand him. Lucky bastard. Jabba waved his arms with new-found energy. “Move the thing! And that other thing! Move it!”

Han guided their ship through an opening in the rocks. It formed a river of sorts between walls of sheer rock. Han couldn’t dwell on the wonders Nature had to offer, though. Not just once, but twice, their boat almost crashed on the rocks. Yet, when he stole a dangerous glance behind him, he saw that the other man’s ship still followed.

“We're safe,” said Jabba once their ship had docked on a safe spot next to naturally formed stairs. “Only our Wookiee friend is strong enough to go up our way. “He'll have to sail around for hours till he finds a harbor.”

Han had trouble believing that. 

He was one of the first to disembark, while Luke helped His Majesty get off the ship. Speaking of His Majesty, Han was surprised by the man he saw. He’d pictured a spoiled brat when he’d been hired to kidnap a Prince. Han was a good judge of character. Usually. But no. That man was of unwavering courage. He’d barely flinched against the Colo claw fish. Han knew many who would’ve panicked in those waters. And there was the way His Majesty had mentioned that stable girl of his. Han had been watching him carefully when he’d spoken of her. Prince Finn had looked down, eyes half-closed, with a hand over his heart and a frown above his eyes. His voice had been a whisper over the wind. That girl meant much to him. She’d become an old kind of pain, brought back to the surface by someone mentioning her.

If only Han didn’t know how that felt.

They reached the rope they’d attacked days earlier, while they’d been planning this whole affair. Chewie put on the harness Han gave him and Han helped His Majesty up on the harness. He fumbled a bit with the man’s cloak - how that thing had survived that swim was a mystery to him - but still managed to attach him just fine. His Majesty closed his eyes. Han couldn’t blame him. That climb up terrified him from the ground. Once they were all harnessed, Chewie started to climb, carrying the four of them on his back. Good. Now they were going up. Not that Han was scared of heights. He simply was not. But he wasn’t… fond of them. He kept looking up. Not down. The caws of a seagull echoed in his ear. The air got cooler the higher they went, playing with his hair. Han shot a glance down. A mistake.

Someone was following them. A man in dark clothing. The man he’d seen sailing behind them. There, by their boat, was a small lifeboat he’d used to sneak between the cliffs.

“He's…” Wait. Was that a she? “She’s climbing the rope. And she's gaining on us.”

“A woman? Inconceivable!”

Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity took hours. Once they almost fell down clean off the cliff, when the wind gusted in. Han had never been more thankful to know Chewie than now. Anyone else and he’d been certain they would’ve ended up like dustcrepes on the ground.

Jabba wasn’t so lenient, though.

“Faster!”

Chewbacca growled. Han translated: “He thought he was going faster!”

“You were supposed to be this colossus.”

Han tried to move away from Jabba’s bad breath. Not an option.

“You were this great legendary thing. And yet she gains!”

A growl. “Well, I’m carrying four people and she’s got only herself.”

“I do not accept excuses!” Han had a half a mind to shove Jabba off the harness “by accident”. “I’m just going to have to find myself a new Wookiee, that’s all.”

A groan. “Don’t say that, Jabba. Please?”

“Did I make it clear that your job is at stake?”

* * *

Finn could have kissed the ground once they made it to the top. Only his dignity as a Prince prevented him from dropping to the floor. He silently thanked the Force that he was alive. That climb was dreadful. He sat on a rock while Luke, Han Solo and Chewbacca looked down at the woman who had been following after them. Jabba produced a knife from his pocket and cut off the rope. It fell.

“She’s got really good arms,” Solo commented.

Jabba rounded on them and looked down. “She didn’t fall? Inconceivable!”

“You keep using that word,” said Luke. “I do not think it means what you think it means.” He paused, then added: “By the Force! She’s climbing!”

“Whoever she is, she's obviously seen us with the Prince and must therefore die. You,” he pointed at Chewie with his knife, “carry him.” To Solo, he said: “You, go with them.” And to Luke, he said: “We'll head straight for the Hosnian mountains. Catch up when she's dead. If she falls, fine. If not, the sword.”

Chewie approached him. Finn raised both hands. “I can walk. Don’t worry.”

“Not a chance! You’ll run away.”

Finn rounded on Jabba. “Remember what happened with the fish? I was careless. I’m alone in a hostile environment. Honestly, I prefer being with a Wookiee than on my own.”

“Suit yourself. Then walk, Highness.”

“I’m going to do her left-handed,” said Luke.

“You know what a hurry we’re in!” countered Jabba, turning towards Luke.

“It is the only way I can be satisfied. If I use my right, it’ll be over too quickly.”

“Oh, have it your way.”

Chewbacca growled in one long drawl. Solo translated: “You be careful! People in masks cannot be trusted.”

Luke grinned. “I don’t know about that, Chewie.”

“I’m waiting!” screeched Jabba, having moved farther away.

* * *

A voice came from the top of the cliff.

“Hello there! Slow going?”

The Dread Pirate Vader clung to the sleek rock for dear life. That wasn’t an understatement. She was literally holding on for dear life. She didn’t chance stealing a glance down, in case she might fall. Death awaited those who fell down these cliffs.

“Look,” she said, slightly annoyed, “I don't mean to be rude, but this is not as easy as it looks, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't distract me.”

“Sorry.”

“Thank you.”

She climbed. One hand. One foot. There. Climb.

“I do not suppose you could… ah… speed things up?

“If you're in such a hurry,” she answered, growing more tense by the second, “you could lower a rope or a tree branch or find something useful to do.”

“I could do that. I still got some rope up here, but I do not think you would accept my help, since I am only waiting around to kill you.”

She  _ tsk _ ed. “That does put a damper on our relationship.”

“But, I promise I will not kill you until you reach the top.”

“That's very comforting, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait.”

A second passed. Still, she climbed. Inch by inch.

“I hate waiting. I could give you my word as a Tatooinian!”

“No good. I've known too many Tatooinians.”

“What if I said I was born in the Alderaan Kingdom?”

“Doesn’t matter. Your place of birth doesn’t prove your valor.”

“Is there not any way you'll trust me?”

“Nothing comes to mind.”

“I swear, on the soul of my father, Anakin Skywalker, you will reach the top alive.”

The Dread Pirate Vader looked up. She nodded. “Throw me the rope.”

Once on top of the cliff, the Dread Pirate Vader took a deep breath, bent forward with her hands on her knees. Finally, she stood to her full height and said:

“They’re gone?”

He looked behind him. “I believe so.”

“Master Luke.”

A smile broke through his façade. He opened his arms wide. The Dread Pirate Vader ran into his arms with a laugh. It had been so long since she’d seen the man. He hadn’t changed one bit, except maybe for the way his robes looked even more tattered.

“How’s the Resistance?” she asked, pulling away. “How’s your sister?”

“Leia’s fine. She’s…”

* * *

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!”

Grandpa looked up from his book. “What?”

“They know each other? Queen Leia is his  _ sister? _ ”

“Um… yes? And yes?”

“But… they were acting like they didn’t know each other! A moment ago!”

“That’s because they didn’t want Han, Chewie, Finn and Jabba to hear.”

“But that’s… what… how? He was her Master? What does that mean?”

“That...  _ could _ ... mean her teacher.”

Jaina gaped at him. “So he’s a pirate, too?”

“You’ll know soon enough. Now can I keep going?”

“Right. Sure.”

* * *

“How’s the Resistance?” she asked, pulling away. “How’s your sister?”

“Leia’s fine. She’s been fighting the good fight for so long, she’s the best person for the job. They’re all fine, from what I’ve heard. Though… wait. Last I’d heard, Poe Dameron was caught by Kylo Ren. I hope he’s all right.”

“I hope so too.”

Master Luke pointed at nothing in particular. “Take a seat, take a seat! I won’t fight you while you’re catching your breath. We’ll wait until you are ready.”

“Again, thank you.”

She slumped against the ruins. A small sigh left the Dread Pirate Vader’s lips. It felt good to just… sit in one spot for a while. Her arms ached. Her legs ached. She felt light-headed, too. Combating different altitudes. 

“You know, there’s something I never had the courage to ask you.”

“I won’t marry you, if that’s what you’re implying.”

Master Luke laughed so hard, he almost threw himself backwards.

“No! No. The Force, no.” He raised both palms up, shielding himself from such a preposterous idea. “What is it with people wondering about my thankfully empty love life, these days? You know how I feel about romantic relationships. Friendships are the only kind of kinships important to me. But let’s be serious for a moment here.”

“Go on.”

“I do not mean to pry, but haven’t you, by any chance, in your travels, encountered a sorcerer who could use Force-lightning?”

“Force-lightning?”

“No, no, no. That’s just silly of me. You wouldn’t have heard of it. It’s an incredibly rare ability. Born to the Dark Side. Only the most powerful Force users can even dream of achieving that state.” Luke took a pause and wiggled his fingers at her, his face twisted into a grimacing fake snarl. “You’re basically ripping the fabric of time and space to create lightning bolts sticking out of your fingers.”

“That sounds charming. Why do you ask, all of a sudden?” 

“My father was slaughtered by a man who could use Force-lightning. Was a great sword-maker, my father. Well, he was a pirate first and foremost, but a sword-maker by trade. That’s not the point. He dropped piracy when he married a Queen and lived with her in the Kingdom of Naboo after her queenship ended. When the lightning-wielding man appeared and requested a special sword, my father took the job. He slaved a year before it was done.”

Master Luke unsheathed the sword and offered it to her. She took it with revering hands. She’d seen it many times before, while she’d studied the sword with him. Still, she’d always admired it. It was impeccably balanced and its golden and silver pommel was ingrained with sapphires. A beauty to behold.

“I’ve never seen its equal.”

She gave it back to Master Luke and he put it back in its scabbard.

“The lightning-wielding man returned and demanded it, but at one-tenth his promised price.” Luke ran a hand through his hair. “My father refused. Without a word, the lightning man slashed him through the heart. He finished him off by roasting him with his lightning bolts. I loved my father. So naturally I challenged his murderer to a duel. I failed. The lightning-wielding man left me alive. But he gave me this.”

He lifted his silver hand. The fingers clicked together when he wiggled them.

“How old were you?”

“I was eleven years old.” He chuckled, seemingly at the thought of his child self taking on an adult man. “Mother had died in childbirth, so me and my twin sister were separated. For our own safety, in case the lightning-wielding man came back to finish the job. I was sent with family in the Tatooine Lands while my godmother, Breha Organa, the Queen of Alderaan, adopted my sister Leia. When I was strong enough, I dedicated my life to the study of fencing, so the next time we meet, I will not fail. I will go up to the lightning-wielding man and say, ‘Hello. My name is Luke Skywalker. You killed my father. Prepare to die.’”

“You’ve done nothing but study swordplay?”

The Dread Pirate Vader wasn’t exactly sure of that.

“More a pursuit than a study, lately. I was a pirate for a long time, before I met you. Besides, you see, I cannot find him. It has been fifty years now and I am starting to lose confidence. I just work for Jabba to help Leia. It's not a lot of freedom in revenge.”

“Well, I certainly hope you find him, one day.”

She got up to her feet and unsheathed her sword. Master Luke grinned.

“You are ready, then? I won’t make it easy, just because we’re pretending.”

“Good.”

“You’re a decent girl. I’d hate to kill you.”

“You’re a decent man. I’d hate to die.”

“... Begin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Of mentors and Wookies.


	5. Chapter 5

Finn walked alongside Solo as they made their way through the ruins at the top of the cliff. They hiked down a long path of rocks. It zigzagged like a snake down the Cliffs of Insanity, headed north. The grey rocky cliff soon turned to lush green. The air grew warm. More hospitable to flora and fauna. Bored out of his mind, Finn decided to play a game of “I spy with my little eye” with himself for the time being. He spotted a group of wild fathiers enjoying the sunny afternoon. Hreeline bees buzzed around, jumping from flower to flower. The smell of lilac filled his nostrils. Not a bad place to be kidnapped in, mused Finn.

“So,” said Solo after a while. He was toying with his knife. Beautifully crafted, too. And were those Alderaanian crystals in the pommel? Finn and he were at the back of the group, standing right behind Chewbacca while Jabba the Hutt lead the way at the front. Solo rubbed the back of his neck. “How’re you feeling, Your Highness?”

“Rather well, for someone who is supposed to be at King Kylo Ren’s court.”

Solo barked a laugh. “I’ll say. Not the kind of guy you invite for tea?”

Finn looked the man up and down. Unruly hair, muddied boots and a dusty jacket around his beige-was-once-white shirt. “How would you know about being invited for tea?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you don’t seem like a… ‘enjoys the finest things in life’ type of man.”

“You’d be surprised. Was it Luke who put that idea in your head?”

“Nope. I came up with it myself.”

“Great. We have a Prince who  _ thinks  _ on our hands.”

They remained silent for a while, enjoying the scenery. How long would it take to get to the Hosnian mountains? Finn tried to remember from looking at King Kylo Ren’s many maps. They must be a long ways off. By foot, that would take a while. Wonderful. At least he had a week of looking forward to before whatever would happen at the mountains. There was a part of him that told him he didn’t want to know what would happen then. Then again, from what he’d seen of Luke Skywalker and now Han Solo, chit chatting with a prisoner, there was something in him that told him they could be trusted. Somehow.

All except Jabba. That one couldn’t be trusted.

“Hey, Your Highness?”

“Yes, Solo?”

Solo sputtered. “Did you call me Solo?”

“Han. Mr. Solo. Whichever you prefer.”

“Right.”

Solo’s eyes got lost in the distance for a moment. “You know, I couldn’t help but overhear what you said about that girl you mentioned to Luke. The… um, the stable girl?”

Finn’s face closed off. “What about her?”

“I just wanted you to know… I’m not usually the sentimental guy, especially not to a stranger, but I feel like I should tell you. My condolences. It never gets easy when you lose a loved one. Every memory of them becomes sad.”

“You lost someone?”

“My…” Solo cleared his throat. “My daughter. She was taken from us too soon. Way too soon. I’m not even quite sure what happened to her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just… keep it up, okay? Keep your head up.”

“Won’t you two quit gossiping and walk faster?” called Jabba, up front.

Solo smiled. “Yes, sir!”

They trudged on towards the Hosnian mountains. No matter what Solo had said, Finn didn’t seem any lighter at the thought of Rey. He returned, more melancholic than before, to his game of “I spy with my little eye”. 

* * *

Their blades clashed. Master Luke slashed at the Dread Pirate Vader’s chest. She moved her torso backwards. Easy as breathing. They circled each other, not taking their eyes a second away from their opponent. A small smile curled Master Luke’s mouth upward. He was enjoying this. A little too much, perhaps. Clash. This time, the Dread Pirate Vader slashed at him. He moved his torso backwards. Same move.

They’d had enough of playing games.

Master Luke attacked. The Dread Pirate Vader took three steps back. Then she took the offensive, making him step back three times. Back and forth like this they went. Clash. Go back. Clash. Go forward. They danced in such a way for a long minute. Light on their feet. Quick as lightning. Master against apprentice. 

Master Luke slashed above her shoulders. She went down, crouching in one sweeping move. He spun. Their swords clashed. Again and again. The grating of metal hitting metal was the only sound that could be heard for miles. No birds flew over the ruins. No wind blew. As if nature itself was too scared of such a fight.

“You are using Windu’s defense against me, huh?” said Master Luke.

She retreated up on a large staircase-like structure, covered in dust and half-buried in dirt. “I thought it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.”

“Naturally, you must expect me to attack with Ki-Adi-Mundi.”

“Naturally, but I find that Plo Koon cancels Ki-Adi-Mundi, don't you?”

Master Luke slashed. The Dread Pirate Vader jumped from the structure and onto lower ground. Master Luke stared her down from the high ground. He was getting cocky. The words came out fast from his mouth when he said: 

“Unless the enemy hasn't studied his Yoda.” 

Master Luke leapt from his perch in one swooping backflip.

“Which I have!”

She feigned forward and their blades clashed again. She took the offensive, making him retreat down to the spot where they’d first started fighting. Next to the piece of rope hastily cut, still tied around a boulder. 

“You’re wonderful!” complimented Master Luke, still slashing away.

“Thank you, I’ve worked hard to become so.”

“I admit it, you are better than I am.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because there’s something I’ve never told you.”

“And what is that?”

“I am not left-handed!”

Thus, Master Luke switched from his left hand to his silver one. He attacked with more vigor than she’d ever seen him use before. Truly, he wasn’t kidding when he’d lied all these years about being left-handed. The Dread Pirate Vader backed up against another staircase, this time left mostly whole. She got up one stair. Slashed. Got up another stair. They climbed on top of the ruins, swords clashing. She lost her footing and fell on her backside. Master Luke attacked. Once. Twice. Thrice. She deflected every time.

“Hmph.”

“Ah!”

She jumped up and finished climbing the staircase. Behind her was nothing but a small stone wall, its turrets mostly intact. 

“You’re amazing,” she complimented.

“I ought to be after fifty years.”

“Well, becoming wiser helps, but older in fights doesn’t.”

“Are you telling me I’m too old for this?”

“Maybe.”

Master Luke caught her arm against the turret. He pressed his entire body weight against her. Loose stone detached from the turret and crashed down the Cliffs of Insanity. They were so far up, the sound of the stones hitting the water didn’t reach them.

“There is something I ought to tell you, too,” she said.

“Tell me.”

She smiled. “I’m not left-handed either.”

The Dread Pirate Vader pushed Master Luke away. She threw her sword up and deftly caught it with her right hand. She waved her weapon around. Just a little bit of show. Then, she clashed her sword with Master Luke’s once more. While spinning her arm, she caught his hilt. His sword flew away and landed a few feet down from what remained of the ruined tower. Master Luke looked at his weapon. Then at her. He jumped away, down to an old piece of rafter sticking horizontally out from between two columns. He grabbed the rafter and used it to propel himself forward. His feet firmly back on the ground, Master Luke picked up his sword and faced her once more. Barely out of breath.

The Dread Pirate Vader launched her sword. It planted itself a few inches into a patch of soft green grass. Master Luke’s eyes widened. She smiled. Time to show him. 

She leapt and grabbed onto the rafter. Focussing entirely on the rafter and her own force of gravity, she made one full spin around in the air before she let go. The Dread Pirate Vader spun around once more before she landed on her own two feet. With that same smile, she put a hand on her hip. Grabbed her sword. And faced her old master.

“Did I teach you that?”

“I learned that by myself, thank you very much.”

He cocked his head to the side, eyes closed. Conceding the point.

Then he attacked again.  _ Cling, clang, clang! _ She made him walk backwards.  _ Cling, clang, cling! _ He slashed down and spun around. Slash up over his shoulder. Slash down. Master Luke jumped over her blade and ran off, climbing the ruins. The Dread Pirate Vader jumped with ease over the stone floors. She slashed.  _ Clang! _ Master Luke was getting tired. She could feel it. His movements were starting to feel stiffer. Slower. He may have been a master swordsman, but she was still much younger than him.

She ripped his sword out of his hand once more. He jumped away and caught it.

Back on the low ground, they started to attack. The grand finale, the part that would prove who would win, Master or apprentice. Master Luke attacked from left to right, left to right. Every time, she moved slightly to the side, head to the right, head to the left. Then, she started moving her weapon in a tight circle, confusing him. Finally, she made her the flat part of her sword strike an inch from the side of his face, lifting his beard and long hair. He put a hand to his face. She touched his wrist with her blade. He dropped his.

The Dread Pirate Vader pointed her sword at his throat and circled around Master Luke. Defeated, he fell to his knees.

“You know the price to pay when a pirate loses to their apprentice.”

“I do. That’s why you retired all these years ago. Without a duel. It’s not something the Dread Pirate Vader has ascribed to, for all these years.”

“Kill me quickly.”

“I would as soon destroy a stained-glass window as an artist like yourself.”

“Wait, please, let me say something first! I’ve been watching you all these years. And I believe… oh please, let me not be wrong. I believe you are…!”

The Dread Pirate Vader hit him with the hilt of her sword. He fell. Out cold.

“I’m sorry, Master Luke. Please understand I hold you in the highest respect. But King Kylo Ren isn’t far. We have to make this look real.”

With that, she ran away.

* * *

“Inconceivable!”

Finn bit down hard on a laugh. He was currently sitting down on a large rock, next to a few trees. Every chance he got, he did everything in his power to slow them down. Oh no, there’s something in my shoe. Wait, I’m tired, I need to sit down. I’m thirsty. Is there a stream nearby? And yes. It was working. Twofolds. They were slowed down. And it was exponentially messing with Jabba’s patience. And now, the masked woman was slowly but surely gaining up on them. He could see her, climbing up the hill they’d been walking over not five minutes ago. He didn’t want to think about what that meant for Luke, though.

Jabba turned to Chewbacca.

“Catch up with us quickly!” To Solo: “And you, you’re coming with me.”

“I need to stay with Chewie.”

“And why is that?”

“I’m the translator.” Solo put two hands on his hips, as if it was obvious. “We wouldn’t want that woman to be murdered in Shyriiwook, now, would we?”

Jabba’s mouth hung open. He shook his head. “Fine, fine! Stay with him.”

Chewie growled. Solo translated: “What does he do?”

“Finish her! Finish her! Finish her your way.”

Another roar. Solo said: “Ah, good. His way. Thank you, Jabba.” 

Jabba grabbed Finn’s hand and pulled him forward. He had no other choice than to follow, though he really would’ve better wished to stay with Solo and Chewbacca. Jabba slid with unnatural ease - for someone born with a tail for legs, anyway - over the rocky terrain. Jabba spun around when Solo translated what Chewbacca said:

“Which way’s his way?”

“Pick one of those rocks,” he explained. Finn briefly wondered if the Hutt would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he had any. Did Hutts have noses? If so, how did they breathe? The Force be with him. The lack of sleep was getting to his head. Jabba continued in such a fashion: “Hide behind that boulder. In a few minutes the masked woman will come running around the bend. The minute her head is in view, hit it with the rock!”

Jabba half-dragged Finn after him. But not before he heard Chewie growl.

“You’re right, Chewie,” said Solo. “Your way’s not very sportsmanlike indeed.”

* * *

The Dread Pirate Vader jogged around the bend a few minutes later. She then stopped. And looked around. Intrigued. Her Force sensitivity tingled. There was something strange about this place. Something fishy. This was a small, clear path amongst many great, tall and wide boulders. The hair at the base of her neck prickled. She was being watched. The Dread Pirate Vader walked two steps forward. A rock bigger than the size of her head hit the spot where her head might have been, had she made three steps forward. She looked around. Then, she unsheathed her sword. A Wookiee appeared from behind a boulder.

He picked up a rock and growled. A human man came around the boulder, too.

“He did that on purpose,” the man said. 

“I understood.”

“You speak Shyriiwook?”

“Master… My Master told me it might come in handy. So I taught myself. And he was right. One of my crew members is a Wookiee. They’re very useful, very loyal companions. I respect her very much. Thankfully, I speak Huttese also, so I can understand your boss.”

“Great. I’m not needed, then.”

“I didn’t have to miss,” groaned the Wookiee.

“I believe you,” she said, turning to him.

The Dread Pirate Vader watched from the corner of her eye as the man who accompanied the Wookiee sat down on a boulder. She squinted her eyes. For some reason, he reminded the Dread Pirate Vader of someone she’d met. A long time ago. But who? Maybe someone she’d met while pillaging? Or someone she’d met in another lifetime, perhaps.

“So what happens now?” she asked the Wookiee.

“We face each other as the Force intended,” he explained. “Sportsmanlike. Sportswomanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.”

“You mean,” she swallowed through the laughter that might have escaped at such a ridiculous suggestion, yet said: “you’ll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?

The Wookiee raised his rock. “I could kill you now.”

“Frankly, I think the odds are slightly in your favor at hand fighting.”

Still, she dropped her sword.

“It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.” And he dropped his rock.

The Dread Pirate Vader decided to just... go for it. She ran into the Wookiee. Trying to make him move. To wrestle with him. To lift him, maybe. Just half an inch off the ground. Nope. Nothing happened. Wonderful. She took a few steps back. Already out of breath.

“Look, are you just fiddling around with me or what?”

The Wookiee giggled. In his own growling way. “I just want you to feel you're doing well. I hate for people to die embarrassed.” He reached for her, but she dived under his legs. Somewhere, the other man laughed. The Wookiee said: “You’re quick.”

“And a good thing, too.”

She walked backwards and he walked forward. The human man followed after them.

“Why are you wearing a mask?” the Wookiee asked, clearly curious. “Were you burned on Mustafar or something like that?”

“Oh no,” she answered, moving her head to the side while he punched thin air. “It's just that they're terribly comfortable.” A punch. A dodge. “I think everyone'll…” A punch. A dodge. “... be wearing them in the future.”

She made a quick move. Standing on a boulder behind the Wookiee, she jumped. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. The Wookiee waved his arms around, but she held on.

“I just figured why you give me so much trouble.”

He smacked his back against a menhir. She held on.

“Why's that, do you think?”

“Well, I haven't fought just one person for so long.” The Wookiee walked around, his paws grasping at the Dread Pirate Vader’s hands clinging to his neck. “I've been specializing in groups. Battling gangs for local charities, that kind of thing.”

The Wookiee smacked his back against another boulder. Still, the other man watched.

“Why should that make such a…” Another smack on the back. “...difference?”

“Well, you see,” he explained, his voice getting more strained by the second, “you use different moves when you're fighting half a dozen people…” He fell to his knees. The pressure loosened around her hands. The Dread Pirate Vader was winning. And she knew it. “... than when you only have to be worried about… one.”

His body went limp. Unconscious.

She got off of the Wookiee and turned to the other man. 

“What about you? Do I have to fight you, too?”

He lifted a hand. “I’m letting you go. You beat Luke with a sword. And you beat Chewie with your bare hands. I’m not getting in a fight with ya.”

“What about that knife in your boot?”

“That’s… that’s not a weapon I want to use any time soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s… um… a gift. For someone special.”

“I see.”

She managed to roll the Wookiee - Chewie was the name - onto his back.

“I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake,” she whispered. “But, in the meantime, rest well, and dream of large female Wookiees.”

She was about to leave when…

“Wait!” said the man.

“Yes?”

“Who are you?”

She didn’t turn around. She only answered: “No one of consequence.”

“I must know.”

“Get used to disappointment.”

And with that, she ran away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Kylo Ren chases. Finn witnesses a battle of wits. And we dive down a hill.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

King Kylo Ren put one foot into the sand. He walked back and forth, following footprints, twirling around, imitating the fight. There was no one to be seen. All except his people, mounted on fathiers. Amongst Stormtroopers, Captain Phasma and Sorcerer Palpatine had come. Only General Hux had stayed behind. The coward.

“There was a mighty duel,” he said. King Kylo Ren climbed on top of a staircase-like structure, covered in dust and dirt. “It ranged all over. They were both masters.”

“Who won?” asked Phasma. “How did it end?”

“The loser…” He jumped off the strange conglomeration of rocks and pointed in one direction. “...ran off alone, and the winner followed those footprints... toward the mighty mountains of the Hosnian Republic. At the feet of the capital.”

“Shall we track them both?” asked Palpatine.

“The loser is nothing. Only Prince Finn matters. Clearly this was all planned by warriors of Hosnian. We must all be ready for whatever lies ahead.”

“Could this be a trap?”

He mounted his fathier and turned to Palpatine.

“I always think everything could be a trap… which is why I'm still alive.”

* * *

“You are  _ not  _ blindfolding me.”

Jabba snarled. His little hands gripped the piece of fabric tight. “Yes, you are going to be blindfolded. That is all part of my genius plan. Don’t you see?”

“No, I don’t.” Prince Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, you were the one who decided to kidnap me and brought me here to the middle of nowhere in a country I’ve only ever been to once on a diplomatic mission. I was almost eaten by flesh-eating fish. I was tied to a Wookiee and climbed to the top of the Cliffs of Insanity. I haven’t protested all the while you did all this! But I am not letting you blindfold me. That’s where I draw the line!” He looked around and added: “Where did you get all this stuff, anyway?”

Five minutes ago, Jabba had sat him down on a rock and picked out a few things from a backpack he’d produced from… somewhere. From where, exactly? Finn absolutely did not want to know. Jabba had covered a bigger rock with a small light blue tablecloth and on it had put two golden goblets and a bottle of wine. The same cheap kind Finn himself had drank from with Luke the night before. Then, they’d waited.

“I bought them before we kidnapped you.”

“Why?”

“Just in case. Now, shush and put your blindfold on!”

“I will not!”

At that same moment, the masked woman walked up the hill. She stopped in front of them, a hand on her hip. She  _ tsk _ ed with her tongue a few times. Nodding her head from left to right. The both of them turned to look at her. 

“Trouble in paradise?”

While Jabba was distracted, Finn grabbed the blindfold and threw it away.

“So it is down to you,” said Jabba, pulling out a knife and pointing it at Finn’s throat, “and it is down to me.” When the woman walked forward, he hissed. “If you wish him dead, by all means, keep moving forward.”

The woman lifted her hands. Palms up. “Let me explain-!”

“There's nothing to explain. You're trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen.”

“I am no object,” protested Finn through gritted teeth.

“Shut up.”

“Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?” asked the woman, walking forward.

A hand grabbed Finn’s arm. He grimaced. The knife pressed against his skin. “There will be no arrangement, and  _ you're  _ killing  _ him _ .”

The woman stopped walking. Thankfully.

“Well if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse.”

“I'm afraid so,” said Jabba, not sounding afraid at all. “I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains.”

Finn huffed. The knife dug into his neck. Almost drawing blood.

“You're that smart?” argued the masked woman.

“Let me put it this way: have you ever heard of the great Dark Side Masters Darth Sidious, Darth Plagueis and Supreme Leader Snoke?”

“Yes.”

“Morons.”

“Really.” She crossed her arms over her chest and her gaze drifted to Finn. A small smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. He looked away. She looked back at Jabba. “In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.”

“For the Prince?”

She nodded.

“To the death?”

She nodded again.

Jabba put the knife away. “I accept.”

“Good. Then pour the wine.”

Finn clenched his hands into fists and looked down at the table. Honestly, he wondered if he’d just stepped into a parallel universe. Maybe in another life, he would’ve lived peacefully as a Prince married with commoner Rey - whom he knew he would meet in any universe - and would live with his mothers in his little village in the Naboo Kingdom. Maybe he’d meet Queen Leia in that life without any Resistance fighting, only to speak of peace treaties. And yet, here he was. Sitting on a rock. Opposite a masked woman. Who was sitting with his kidnapper while he poured them wine. What had his life come to?

The woman pulled out a small vial from a pocket in her black pants. She offered it to Jabba. “Inhale this, but do not touch.”

He sniffed. “I smell nothing.”

“What you do not smell is called Kyber powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the most deadly poisons known to man.”

“Hm!”

The masked woman picked up the two goblets and hid them behind her back. Finn craned his neck to see what she was doing. She caught him staring.

“Please look away.”

He did. But the way she said  _ please _ made him shiver.

Once she was done, she offered the goblets back to Jabba. She put one in front of Jabba, then put it in front of her, until finally, she put the goblets on the table. 

“All right.” Her eyes twinkled, in a way that reminded him strangely of Luke. “Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right… and who is dead.”

“But it's so simple,” scoffed Jabba. “All I have to do is divine from what I know of you. Are you the sort of woman who would put the poison into her own goblet or her enemy’s? Now, a clever woman would put the poison into her own goblet, because she would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

For a moment, all Finn wanted to do was drink from any goblet. Kill him now. 

“You've made your decision then?” asked the masked woman.

“Not remotely. Because Kyber comes from Corellia, as everyone knows, and Corellia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”

Just a sip. Nothing more. Could Finn have just a sip of wine? Hearing Jabba the Hutt talk about himself like that was worse than torture.

“Truly,” the woman grinned, “you have a dizzying intellect.”

“Wait ‘till I get going! Where was I?”

“Corellia.”

“Yes, Corellia. And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

“You're just stalling now.”

Surely he was, Finn concurred. Please, could someone make him stop?

“You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You've beaten my Wookiee, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Tatooinian, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

The woman blinked. And they said haste makes waste.

“You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.”

“It has worked!” Jabba argued with a jubilant grin. “You’ve given everything away! I know where the poison is!”

“Then make your choice.”

“I will, and I choose… What in the world can that be?

Jabba pointed behind the woman. She looked away. Finn’s eyes widened when he saw Jabba change the goblets. His mouth fell open. That slug! He had dared!

“What? Where?” The woman looked back at Jabba. “I don’t see anything.”

“Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.”

“Wait, no!” Finn cut in, panic settling in. “Ma’am, don’t! It’s a-!”

Jabba pulled out the knife once more and put it at his throat. Finn swallowed.

“It’s nothing,” said the woman. “Don’t worry about me.”

And then they drank.

“You guessed wrong,” smirked the masked woman.

“You only think I guessed wrong!” Jabba laughed. “That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ho, ho! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in the Kashyyyk Kingdom, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Tatooinian when death is on the line! Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! Ho-”

Jabba fell. Dead.

If Finn’s eyes could have widened anymore, they would’ve. His mouth fell open. What? How? When? Wha…? The masked woman walked around the corpse and grabbed her sword. Finn flinched, but she only cut off the rope tying his wrists together. Holding his hands, she helped a still shocked Finn to his feet. 

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am no one to be trifled with, that is all you will ever need to know.”

Finn looked back at the table and at Jabba’s cooling body. “To think… all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.”

The masked woman’s smile turned vulpex-like. “They were both poisoned, Your Highness.” She gave a chuckle when Finn gaped at her. She then further explained: “I spent the last few years building up an immunity to Kyber powder.”

And with that, she ran off, holding Finn’s arm in her grasp.

* * *

King Kylo Ren knelt on the ground. He inspected every single grain of sand. Behind him, his compatriots sat on their fathiers. The path filled with gigantic rocks was empty, but footprints remained of a great struggle. 

“Someone here has beaten a giant!” He roared, grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it away. “There will be great suffering in Hosnian if he dies.”

King Kylo Ren got back on his fathier and rode on.

* * *

Prince Finn let himself be dragged miles away, until he couldn’t take it anymore. He kept stumbling, slowing them down. Finally, the masked woman let go of his arm. Finn settled on a big boulder sticking out of the ground.

“Catch your breath,” she instructed.

“If you’ll release me,” he said as he sat down properly, “whatever you ask for ransom… you’ll get it. I promise you.”

“And what is that worth, the promise of a Prince? You’re very funny, Highness.”

He ignored her mocking laugh. “I was giving you a chance. No matter where you take me, there is no greater hunter than King Kylo Ren.” That threat sounded empty, even to his own ears. “He could track a starbird on a cloudy day. He can find you.”

“You think your dearest ally will save you?”

“I never said he was my dearest ally. And yes, he will come. That I know.”

“You admit to me you do not trust your ally?”

“He knows I do not trust him. No one does. Not him.”

“‘Are not capable of trust’ is what you mean. What you’d be at love is a question I’m asking myself. If you cannot trust an ally, how could you trust a lover?”

Enraged at the thought, Finn rose to his feet and put himself in her face. Close to her face. He snarled. The gall of that woman! “Do not talk to me about love! I have loved more deeply than a killer like you could ever dream.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and spun around. 

“It’s a terrible thing to lie. Where I come from, there are penalties when a Prince lies. Come, Your Highness. Follow me.”

She started to walk away. Finn looked around. He was lost in the middle of nowhere, on a ridge somewhere in the Hosnian wilderness. Alone, he wouldn’t make it out alive. So he followed after her. There wasn’t much else he could do.

* * *

King Kylo Ren almost laughed at the sight of Jabba the Hutt’s body, lying on his side, now completely cold. Instead, he got down from his fathier and picked the abandoned vial. A charming but deadly picnic had taken place, it seemed. He sniffed. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But he knew if he put his lips to that vial, he would be dead.

“Kyber. I’d bet my life on it.” Pointing at the path up ahead, he continued: “And there are Prince Finn’s footprints. He is alive… or was an hour ago. If he is otherwise when I found him, I shall be very…” He searched for a better word, but couldn’t find any. “... put out.”

King Kylo Ren leaped onto his fathier and grabbed his reins. They were off.

* * *

Finn fell to his knees. His feet ached. His legs wouldn’t carry him anymore. They had reached something of a ravine, covered in thick ticklish grass. He hadn’t walked like that since… scratch that. He’d never walked that far in his entire life. Where was that masked woman taking him? Where were they going? No memories of King Kylo Ren’s many maps of the Hosnian Republic could help him about their current location. Another question he asked himself: why was she here? What was her goal? Why had she gone to all that trouble, defeating Luke and Chewbacca and Jabba the Hutt?

An old pain stabbed him in the heart.

“I know who you are. Your cruelty betrays you.”

The masked woman remained silent.

“You’re the Dread Pirate Vader.” He spat the awful name like Sith poison on his tongue. It had brought him too much pain. “Admit it.”

“With pride.” She mocked a bow. “What can I do for you?”

Finn sprang up and, like earlier, he put himself right into her face. “You can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces!”

“Hardly complimentary, Your Highness. Why loose your venom on me?”

“You killed my love.”

Her mouth formed a thin line. “It’s possible. I kill a lot of people.” She cocked her head to the side. “Who was this love of yours? A princess, ugly, rich and scabby?”

“No. A stable girl. Poor. Poor and perfect! With eyes like amber under the sun.” Tears filled his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. “On the high seas, your ship attacked, and the Dread Pirate Vader never takes prisoners.”

She shrugged. The Dread Pirate Vader sat down upon a rock and put two hands behind her head. Patronizingly, she answered: “I can’t afford to make exceptions. One word leaks out that a pirate has gone soft,” she waved her arm around as she explained, “people will begin to disobey you, and then it’s nothing but work, work, work all the time.”

“You mock my pain!”

“Life is pain, Highness,” she said, looking him straight in the eyes. “Anyone who says differently is selling something.” She looked away, squinting her eyes. Then, she lifted her head, as if just thinking of a thought. “I remember this stable girl of yours, I think. This would be, what, five years ago?”

Finn nodded. Unable to say anything more.

“Does it bother you to hear?”

Finn sat on a rock. He looked off into the distance.

“Nothing you can say will upset me.”

“She died well, that should please you. No bribe attempts or blubbering. She simply said, ‘Please please. I need to live.’ It was the ‘please’ that caught my memory. I asked her what was so important to her. ‘True Love’, she replied. And then she spoke of a boy of surpassing beauty and faithfulness. You should bless him for destroying her before she found out what you really are.”

Finn looked at her. “And what am I?”

“Faithfulness she talked of, my lord,” she said, rising to her feet. “Your enduring faithfulness. To herself, to the Light, to your people. When you found out she was gone, did you decide to sign that treaty with King Kylo Ren that same hour, or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?”

Finn jumped to his feet. Once more, he put himself into her face.

“You mocked me once, never do it again. I died that day!”

The Dread Pirate Vader opened her mouth, but she looked away. She actually turned away from him. The pounding of hooves on the ground alerted him to King Kylo Ren’s army not far away. He couldn’t bring himself to care in the slightest.

“You can die too, for all I care!”

Finn pushed her off the ravine. The Dread Pirate Vader fell, spinning, tumbling, rolling down the impossibly steep hill. Her hair, in one long braid, appeared from underneath her bandana. Groans of pain echoed in the air. Finn crossed his arms over his chest. Good for her, that wretched woman deserved it. But a thought nagged at the back of his mind. Was it better to go back to a murderous King than to go with a murderous pirate?

Then, her voice was carried by the wind.

“Aaaaaaaas… youuuuuu… wiiiiiiiiiiish!”

* * *

“Wait… what??!?”

Grandpa looked up from his book.

“That’s Rey! That was Rey? All that time the Dread Pirate Vader was Rey??!?”

He smiled. “She was.”

* * *

Then, her voice was carried by the wind.

“Aaaaaaaas… youuuuuu… wiiiiiiiiiiish!”

Finn’s dry mouth hung open. His eyes became wide. “Rey? Oh, my dear Rey! What have I done? REY!!!!”

Finn started to run down the ravine. Knees bent, he ran, careful not to fall. And still Rey spun down the hill. For yes, this was Rey. Alive and well.

* * *

King Kylo Ren stopped his fathier at the top of the highest hill, above the ravine. He shook his head, clicking his tongue against the top of his mouth.

“Disappeared.” He shook his head in disdain. “She must have seen us closing in, which might account for her panicking in error. Unless I’m wrong, and I am never wrong, they are headed into the Dagobah Swamp.”

Next to him, Sorcerer Palpatine’s wrinkly face paled even further under his hood. If that could be considered possible, in any case.

King Kylo Ren clicked his tongue. They charged away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: The Dagobah Swamp.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Finn reached the bottom of the ravine. He jumped over a fallen tree log, cut clean at the base and charred from a bolt of lightning. His light pink cloak, which had survived all the way here, caught on the log. It snapped right off his shoulders. The momentum threw Finn backwards. He fell on his back. The wind was knocked out of his lungs. He kept his eyes turned skywards. He couldn’t help the hope blossoming in his chest. Could she be…? Had he imagined…? She couldn’t be...? But could she…?

Then, she appeared. Rey had removed her mask and loose strands of hair clung to her sweaty forehead. But she was there. Alive and well. That smile, with all her teeth, that she’d only shown him as far as he could tell, was spread out all over her face. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. Of happiness, he hoped. His own salty tears pricked at his eyes.

“Can you move at all?” she asked.

He smiled, putting some hair behind her ear. She leaned into the touch.

“Move? You’re alive. If you want, I can fly!”

“I told you. ‘I would always come for you.’ Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Well… you were dead.”

“Death cannot stop True Love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

“I will never doubt again.”

“There will never be a need. My debt is paid.”

“Debt? What debt? You never owed me anything.”

She reached inside the pocket of her pants and offered him… a Royal Naboo brooch. His eyes widened at the sight. It was even more beautifully-sculpted than the one he’d given Poe Dameron. Or maybe that was his mind playing tricks on him. He picked it up reverently, mouth slightly agape. He gazed into Rey’s eyes.

“Where did you get this?”

“I went to Theed a few days ago. I was looking for you. Or maybe the ghost of you. I’m not sure. But anyway. Your Mother gave this to me.”

“But… you never owed me anything, Rey.”

“You saved my life that day at the Lake. So I saved you from Jabba.”

“Again. You never owed me anything, Rey. Keep it. It’s yours.”

She put the brooch in a small pocket inside her black shirt. It rested over her heart. Finn’s ankles wrapped around Rey’s shins, putting her body flush against his, and he pulled her into a hug. He wanted to stay like that forever. Maybe not forever, but at least for five years. To make up for all the time they had lost. He smelled her hair. It didn’t smell of shoe polish anymore. Instead, in its place, there were the scents of the seas, of smoke and of far off places. Finn closed his eyes. Tears stained his cheeks.

“I love you.” Finn sat up, without losing his grip on her. Rey ensnared his torso with her legs. Not letting go, either. He whispered in her ear: “I love you and I love you and I love you and I love you. I’m going to tell you this. Every day of my life. I love you, Rey.”

“I love you too, Finn. So much.”

They kissed. Sloppy, quick kisses, followed by one long kiss that said all the things they couldn’t pronounce with words. Once that was out of the way, they went back to hugging. Clutching at the other like drowning souls in a stormy ocean clinging to a lifesaver.

They were each other’s lifesavers, after all. That was their thing. Saving each other.

“We have to go,” finally said Rey in his ear.

He almost moaned. “I don’t want to.”

“But we have to, my love,” she argued, giggling. He really liked that sound. He missed how much he liked to hear it. “Kylo Ren will be here soon.”

“Right, right. You’re right. Let’s go.”

It still took them some seconds before getting up and running away hand in hand. They went west. Towards the Dagoba Swamp. Soon, gnarly trees sprouted from the ground in a clean unnatural line, growing from the fresh green grass. Thick vines and bushes created a wall of vegetation. Fog obstructed anything else they might have seen from inside the Swamp. Again, not unlike when before he’d been kidnapped by Jabba and the others, Finn felt more than anticipated something terrible to happen in there. Call it an intuition. Not founded on nothing, though. This was one of the most terrifying places in all of Hosnian’s territory. 

The pounding of hooves against the ground made him pause. A group of people in armor mounted on fathiers stopped atop the ravine from earlier. Their silhouettes were sharp against the cloudy grey sky. Rey turned around.

“Ha,” she laughed, rather humorlessly. “Your pig friend is too late. A few more steps and we’ll be safe in the Dagoba Swamp.”

Safe? Finn didn’t know anything about safe. 

“We’ll never survive.”

“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.”

Finn raised both his eyebrows. Rey squeezed his hand. 

Still, they broke through the line of dead trees and walked inside the Swamp. They found some kind of path between the trees and followed that. The air itched in Finn’s throat. The ground felt moist, as if it would give away any second now. Or swallow them whole. Every step of the way, they were reminded that they were not alone. Growls came from somewhere nearby. It was impossible to tell what was hidden in the bushes. Strange bird calls echoed in the distance. Something flew past their heads. Rey unsheathed her sword and cut down some vines in their way. Finn held onto her elbow.

“It’s not that bad,” pointed out Rey, slashing at a vine. 

Finn sent her a  _ look _ . Rey at least had the decency to chuckle.

“I’m not saying I’d like to build a summer home here,” she admitted, moving her head from left to right, “but the trees are actually quite lovely.”

Finn wasn’t so sure about that. The dark trees stretched until far, far above their heads. Only a sliver of light reached down to them. It was quickly absorbed by the fog. Moss grew on every surface, making everything slippery. 

Popping sounds echoed in his ear. What the-?

Fire burst from the ground. Right. Finn remembered one of his mentally draining meetings with Ren. Warning about the fiery swamp. The burst of flame missed him by an inch, but the fabric of Rey’s pants had caught on fire. She panicked, stomping on the ground. She created air as she did and only made the fire rise faster. Finn pressed two hands to her shoulders and guided her down to sit. Using mud from the ground, he suffocated the fire. 

“Well, now,” he said, trying to sound calm. “That was an adventure.”

She smiled. A little tearfully.

“Singed, were you?”

“No. You?”

“No.”

They both were, but they wouldn’t tell each other. Maybe later. After the Swamp. Now was the time to survive. They went on a few steps, until the same popping sounds erupted from thin air. Rey pulled him away from the burst of flame.

“Well, one thing I will say,” Rey said rather noncommittally, under these circumstances, “the Dagobah Swamp certainly does keep you on your toes.” 

They kept on going through the Dagobah Swamp.

“This will all soon be but a happy memory.” Rey punctuated her phrase by cutting through a vine. “Because, as I should tell you, Vader’s ship, the  _ Executor _ , and I came at the far end. And I, as you know, am Vader.” She opened her mouth, then closed it. When Finn encouraged her to continue, she added: “You know, I wanted to name the ship the  _ Millennium Falcon _ , truthfully. But Vader’s reputation being something of an institution as it is… I couldn’t change the name of the ship. Besides, the name was already taken.”

“By whom?”

“A smuggler. You’ve met him, actually. Han Solo?”

“Ah, yes. He was a smuggler.” Suddenly, Finn’s brain grasped the memory of the name he’d been searching for so long. “Wait. Isn’t that the smuggler who married Queen Leia? When she was still princess of the Alderaan Kingdom?”

Rey nodded. “That same fella.”

“Huh. Have you met him?”

“Not before today. When I fought his Wookiee friend.”

“Huh. Fascinating.”

Rey slashed at another vine. Another question popped in Finn’s mind.

“How is this possible? Darth Vader’s been marauding… more than fifty years I believe, and you only left me five years ago!”

“I myself am often surprised at life's little quirks.” Rey stopped when she heard the popping sounds and Finn pulled her away from the burst of flame. “See, what I told you before about saying ‘please’ was true. It intrigued Vader, as did my descriptions of your beauty.” Rey looked at Finn from the corner of her eye. The smile they shared said many things. She cut through a few vines in their path before she continued: “Finally, Vader decided something. He said, ‘All right Rey, I've never had a valet, you can try if you'd like. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.’ Three years he said that. "Good night Rey. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning.’” She sheathed her sword. “It was a fine time for me. I was learning to fence, fight, anything anyone would teach me. And Vader and I eventually became friends. And then it happened.”

Rey helped Finn down a sloping path between trees. She looked perplexed for a moment, which only fascinated him more.

“What? Go on,” he encouraged. 

“Well, Vader had grown tired of this life, he wanted to retire. So he took me to his cabin, and told me his secret.” They reached a long and tall overturned tree. Rey walked forward first, arms stretched on either sides of her body. Finn did the same. Once on the other side, she continued: ‘I am not the Dread Pirate Vader’, he said. ’My name is Luke.’”

“Luke?”

“Yes! You’ve met him, actually. Luke Skywalker.”

“ _ Luke  _ was the Dread Pirate Vader?”

“Yes! Isn’t that amazing?” She offered Finn her brightest smile. “So, Luke continued: ‘I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Vader. He was my father, Anakin Skywalker. The torch was almost lost, so to speak, when my father died, but his best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had been the Dread Pirate Vader before my father Anakin, taught me everything. Obi-Wan himself was not the real Dread Pirate Vader either. The real Vader was a man named Qui-Gon Jinn who has been retired for… I dare say fifty years and ever since, he’s been living like a king in the oceans near the Kingdom of Coruscant. Married to a wonderful woman named Shmi, I believe.”

Finn lifted a vine out of their path. Rey winked. “Thank you. Then Luke explained that the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Rey. Or Luke, for that matter! So we sailed ashore, took on an entirely new crew, and he stayed aboard for a while as first mate, all the time calling me Vader. Once the crew believed, he left the ship, and I have been Vader ever since. The first woman on the job, might I add. Except now that we're together, I shall retire and hand the name over to someone else. Is everything clear to you?

Finn nodded.

Something strange told him not to move. As if he knew exactly what was going to happen next. He pushed the thought aside. That was silly. There was no popping sounds! He walked a few paces away… and was swallowed whole by the ground. The Dagoba Swamp disappeared. He barely had the space to scream. Something dry and grainy filled his mouth. Sand. Everywhere he looked, there was only sand. Sand, sand, sand. Dragging him downwards. Crushing his chest. Making it impossible to breathe. He tried to reach out, to kick his legs to grab something.  _ Anything _ . But he couldn’t. His limbs were stubbornly stuck to his sides. One thought filled his mind. Wonderful. He was reunited with Rey, against all odds. And he was now going to die from Lightning Sand.

A hand curled around his arm and he was pushed upwards.

Finn gasped when his head reached the surface. Air, air! Wonderful air! Rey pulled on a vine away from the Lightning Sand. Once he was on firm ground, Finn lay down on his side and coughed. He coughed until his throat ached. Finn focussed on that. Cough. Breathe. Just breathe. That’s all you need to do. _ Breathe. _ Rey’s hand on his back anchored him to this moment. Slowly, laboriously, Finn crawled away from the hole. He sat down against a large rock and pulled Rey to him. She was covered in sand, as were he. It stuck to her hair and his hair and her clothes and his clothes. Its rough surface still made him feel better. More alive. They hugged each other for a long moment. He kept his eyes closed.

Somewhere behind him, something growled. His intuition buzzed at him to go.

“We'll never succeed. We may as well die here.”

Rey pulled away. She looked just as desperate as he did, but she managed not to sound desperate at all. A smile broke through her fear. “No, no. We have already succeeded.” She pulled him up and, with her sword unsheathed, continued down the path. “I mean, what are the three terrors of the Dagoba Swamp? One, the flame spurt. No problem. There's a popping sound preceding each, we can avoid that. Two, the Lightning Sand, but you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too!”

“Rey.” He grabbed her arm and made her stop. “What about the R.O.U.S.’s?”

“Rathtars of Unusual Size? I don’t think they exist.”

Something big with tentacles jumped out from behind a rock. It hit Rey right in the face, knocking her down on her back. She held back a mouth filled with millions of teeth with both her hands. Rey remained calm. So calm. Finn, meanwhile, could only jump back in horror. A tongue licked the empty air. Finn’s stomach lurched in disgust. One part of him told him to run, the other told him to fight. But just as he was about to pick up Rey’s sword and kill that ugly thing covered in blisters, another Rathtar jumped out from behind the rock. A smaller Rathtar, but still just as frightening. It growled at him, telling him to back off. Raising both hands defensively, Finn took a careful step back. Then another. And a third one.

“Um… Rey?”

The Rathtar’s growl became screech-like. It bit down on Rey’s shoulder. Hard. Deep. She screamed. Finn’s heart drummed in his ears. Still, Rey remained amazingly calm. She wrestled with the Rathtar, pushing it off her. But right before she could pick up her sword, the R.O.U.S. jumped back on her. Rey threw the Rathtar over her head. This time, it joined its companion and charged at Finn.

“Finn!”

Rey dived on the R.O.U.S. She grabbed its tentacles and pulled. The one she’d wrestled earlier was clearly the leader, for the other one remained off to the side. Waiting. Finn grabbed a tree branch and started hitting the R.O.U.S. with it. It only made that thing angrier. It bit down on Finn’s foot. This time, he screamed. Finn dropped the tree branch. He looked around at anything that could stop that beast. Rey’s sword was there. A few feet away. Abandoned. But way too far to be within his grasp.

Finn closed his eyes. 

He reached out.

Before he knew it, the sword was in his hand. He slashed at the Rathtar’s face. It screeched in pain, its tentacles retracting to protect its face. Finn looked up at Rey. She was looking back at him, her arms around the Rathtar. Her mouth was agape, her eyes were wide. Finn wrestled his foot free and stood up. He plunged the sword in the R.O.U.S.’s ugly face. It screeched again, a long, agonizing, the-kind-he’d-hear-in-his-nightmares-forever screech, before going limp. Its body sank with one sigh. It was dead.

It was far from over.

The second Rathtar jumped on Rey. She spun on her back, the thing now on top of her. Finn lifted his sword. A distinct popping sound echoed.

“Rey… do you hear that?”

Instead of answering, she spun around some more, bringing the Rathtar with her. A spurt of flame erupted near their wrestling bodies. Rey pushed the Rathtar against the flame with all her might. It screeched in pain. The smell of burned flesh reached Finn. He almost doubled over to retch. Letting go of the horrible creature, Rey jumped up and backed up towards Finn. The burst of flame receded and the Rathtar faced them. It screeched. But didn’t move. Until it decided to flee and jumped in the fog.

The Rathtar disappeared.

They both sank in relief and looked at each other. Then, they burst out laughing. Finn and Rey circled each other, talking faster with each second.

“That was amazing! You remained so calm all that time!”

“ _ You _ were amazing! You used the Force! Since when are you Force sensitive?”

“I’m not! I mean… I didn’t know I was!”

“So you’re like me!”

“I am! And you… you pushed that thing in the fire! That was awesome!”

The consequences of their current situation suddenly crashed upon Finn, weighing on him like a ton of rocks. Pain flared in his foot. He looked Rey over. Her shirt had been torn apart and the skin was left exposed. Her shoulder was red and raw. It looked painful. To say the least.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll live. And you?”

“I will, too.”

They looked at each other some more. Then, Finn took her hand.

“Come on, let’s get out of this Swamp.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Meeting new friends and old enemies.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The setting sun’s last warm rays enveloped them in a hug once Finn and Rey made it out of the Dagobah Swamp. Much like going in, the trees ended abruptly, without warning. Finn looked around. Everything looked so peaceful here. The forest turned from jungle to oak trees, with the forest floor hidden beneath a thick layer of dead leaves. Nothing moved. Nothing rustled. Nothing growled or screeched or popped. They’d come out alive. Worse for wear. Covered in dust, sand and grime. Injured and beaten. But still very much alive.

Holding hands, they travelled down a path out of the woods. White smoke appeared over the treetops. A village soon followed, calm and peaceful. People stared at the travellers.

“Hello, ma’am,” said Finn to a woman who was cutting wood with a rather fearsome-looking axe. “Is there anywhere we could rest for the night? We’re… ah… a husband and wife travelling through the woods. And we’d need shelter.”

“Looking at you two, I’d say you came in through the Swamp.”

He smiled. Rey nodded.

The woman put down her axe. “Anyone who can make it past that Swamp immediately earns this village’s respect. And let me tell you: no one has made it out alive, so no one has earned our immediate respect. There’s an inn over there, down that path. And don’t worry about money. Respect around here means we’ll treat you right.”

“Thank you so much,” said Rey.

“You’re welcome.” The woman looked down at their hands. She definitely noticed they weren’t wearing wedding rings, but she didn’t do so much as comment on it. Instead, she said: “Now off you go!” She gestured at them to move along. “It’s almost dark. And honestly, you two look like you need the rest.”

She was right. They stumbled through the doors to Jakku’s Bed and Breakfast a few minutes later, walking in with their last remaining strength. People rushed to their feet. Someone held up Finn, while someone else grabbed Rey. Finn was too tired to even care about fighting back. Yet no one fought them. No one tried to stop them. Instead, they were ushered over to a large fireplace roaring in the corner. Settled down on comfy plush chairs. Bowls of bone broth were put in their hands. Then, the owner came. At least, Finn presumed he was the owner. His apron basically gave him away.

“So you two are the ones who made it through the Swamp?”

Finn looked up at him. “How do you know?”

“Son,” the elderly man said, sitting down, “this village is smaller than the palm of my hand. Everybody knows everybody. Now tell me. You two want a room for the night?”

“Yes, sir,” they answered at the same time.

“Good.” With a chuckle, he added: “Looking at you, I don’t think I would’ve let you walk away out the door anyway. Eat up, this’ll make you strong again. If you need anything, the name’s Lor San Tekka. My wife Maz is upstairs getting a room ready.”

Lor San Tekka got up and started to walk away. Then, he turned around.

“We’ll do something for that shoulder of yours. And that foot of yours.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

With that, Lor San Tekka walked away. Finn and Rey started to eat in silence. They didn’t stop eating until their bellies were full and their bowls were empty. With a tired sigh, Rey leaned against Finn’s shoulder. Finn rested his head against hers. He closed his eyes, listening to the crackling of the fire. He was halfway to sleep when Rey said:

“Can you believe that? Fifteen minutes ago we were in that Swamp.”

“Can you believe that? A few hours ago I still thought you were dead.”

They giggled. The exhausted kind. The barely-can-keep-your-brain-functioning kind.

“My husband, huh?”

Finn felt his cheeks grow warm.

“That’s the first thing that came to mind.”

She kissed his shoulder. “Not a problem. We’ve never talked about marriage, is all.”

At that, his embarrassment turned to guilt. “Well, you know. We were so young. Would you have liked to talk about it? Back then?”

“I don’t think I would’ve been able to.”

“Why is that?”

They stared into each other’s eyes. The flickering orange light of the fire bounced against Rey’s skin. He never thought he’d find fire peaceful ever again. Not after that dreadful swamp. Rey’s smile turned sad at the corners.

“You know why.”

“Ah. The whole Prince thing?”

At that, she laughed. “How is that just a  _ thing _ ? You’re the son of the leader of a country, Finn! And even before that, you were a nobleman. You were always meant to marry amongst your own kind. And I’m no one. I’m a commoner. I’m a pirate now!”

“Queen Leia married a smuggler.”

“That’s Alderaan for you. Naboo is different. Posh. Stiff.”

“They’re not that bad.”

“Aren’t they?”

Finn bit his lip. “All right. They  _ are  _ a little stiff. But if Queen Leia can make them change their mind, I’ll do the same. There’s not one thing in this entire universe that could keep you away from me, Rey. Except you.”

“Except me?”

“If you don’t want to be with me.”

“Finn…”

“I’m a nobleman. I’m a Prince. That won’t go away. My people count on me. If you don’t want that responsibility… or to be thrown in the spotlight…”

“Finn…”

“I would love you the same, but from afar. And my mothers would love you the same. They already love you! They’ll be thrilled to know you’re okay. Even if you’re a pirate. Even if you’re…”

“Finn!”

His mouth clicked shut. “What?”

She offered him a teary smile. 

“I’d be honored to be your wife, if you’d have me.”

He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her hair. 

“I’d never have it any other way.”

* * *

“When is it getting good again?”

Grandpa looked up from the book. “What do you mean?” 

Jaina got up on her bed and gestured wildly with her arms. “We’ve just been through the Dagoba Swamp! Bursts of fire! Lightning Sand! Big monsters!” She settled back down on her bed. “But now they’re just… talking.”

“They need to talk. They haven’t talked in five years.”

“I know.”

“And besides, this book is called  _ The Prince’s Bride _ for a reason, isn’t it?”

She brightened at that. “They’re gonna get married?”

“First, they need to rest. Now be patient, I want to get through this part.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s one of my favorites.” 

“It is?”

Grandpa got up. The words he said were getting out of his mouth faster with each second. He started to imitate the characters. “After all that sword fighting and wrestling and battles of wits! They’ve been through so much together. They deserve to talk. And rest.”

Jaina slumped down against her pillows.

“Okay.”

Grandpa sat back down. “Now where was I?” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Ah, yes! Finn says...”

* * *

“I’d never have it any other way.”

A woman with thick round glasses came around the corner.

“Now won’t you look at our lovebirds. You’re the two who survived their trip through the Dagoba Swamp, aren’t you?”

Finn only gave a nod. The woman smiled.

“Great. I’m Maz. The co-owner. Your room is ready. Once you get upstairs, there’s a shower room down the hall. Chemises are already waiting for you. Freshly clean! They may be a little big, but that’s not a bad thing.”

“Thank you so much. Again.”

Maz pinched Rey’s cheek. “No need, darling. Hurry up! Your bed’s waiting.”

Finn was halfway up the small staircase that lead to the inn’s small bedroom when he heard Maz ask someone, possibly her husband:

“Who are those two?”

“Dunno. Do you know them?”

“I have a suspicion. I’m going to write Leia.”

All that remained of Finn’s nervousness evaporated. Maz and Lor San Tekka were with the Resistance! Good. That meant they could sleep well. Rey pushed the door open and they carried each other to a small sitting area. This room was rather small, but cozy. A bed, a dresser, two chairs and a window. All they needed. Chemises made of the softest wool were waiting for them on the bed. Alongside them were two fluffy towels and some kind of white cream he identified as healing Bacta cream. It smelled something awful, though.

“You want to shower first?”

“No, go first,” said Rey, shaking her head. “I need a minute.”

“Suit yourself.”

He never felt better than when the warm water glided over his tired skin. If he’d had to, he would’ve given his kingdom for soap. Well, not _ literally. _ But still. He thought he’d never see the light of day while he was in that swamp, never mind a warm shower. He remained in there for longer than necessary, enjoying warmth and peace. The cool air hit Finn wonderfully when he walked out. Soon enough, he was back in their shared bedroom. Rey grabbed her towel and left. Five minutes later, she was back with wet hair free from their braid and plastered all over her face and neck.

“Better?” 

“Exponentially.”

They didn’t have to say anything, they just sat down and started rubbing each other with the Bacta cream. Finn’s hands had been badly burned by that burst of flame. That same burst of flame had burned Rey pretty badly on the shin. And he didn’t want to have to think about her mauled shoulder longer than necessary. Or his poor foot. Instead, he just applied the cream without looking at them and that was that. They’d be good as new in the morning.

Soon enough, they were in each other’s arms again. Not letting go.

“Let’s go to bed, Rey.”

She looked up at him. “I don’t… you know I don’t want to…”

“Oh, no, no, no!” He shook his head. “Let me re-phrase that. Let’s go to _ sleep _ .”

Her whole body relaxed instantly. “Good. That sounds nice.”

Rey kissed him, deep and slow, and wrapped herself around him, the way she’d done at the bottom of the ravine. Finn used his hands to propel himself backward. Soon enough, they were both lying on their stomachs under the covers. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Rey intertwining their pinkies together.

“Good night, Rey.”

“Good night, Finn.”

He fell asleep, listening to the rhythm of their heartbeats.

* * *

“So is that finally it?” asked Jaina, rubbing her face.

Grandpa’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “Oh, my little pilot. This is about to get so good. You won’t believe. Hang on to your hat.”

She sat up. “Great. Keep going!”

* * *

Finn woke up to something cold pressed between his shoulder blades. He refused to move. Frozen by fear. The room was otherwise peaceful, from his point of view. Morning light flooded in through the window. But then, he slowly, oh so slowly turned around. And there he was. A silhouette cut out from night against the light.

“Prince Finn,” said King Kylo Ren. His voice came out low and gravel-like, transformed by the mask he wore. The one always meant for his enemies.

Finn swallowed. “King Kylo Ren.”

“Finn? What’s… oh.”

King Kylo Ren wasn’t alone in the room. Captain Phasma was there, too. Pointing her sword at Rey. Rey herself looked at each of them. She lifted her sleeve, which had fallen off her shoulder. The skin was smooth as before; no wound remained. 

“King Kylo Ren.”

“Surrender!” he said, too loudly in such a small room.

Rey pulled out her wit, sharper than any sword. “You mean you wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept.”

Captain Phasma huffed. “I give you full marks for bravery. Don’t make yourself a fool.”

“Get dressed. We’ll be waiting downstairs.”

And thus, King Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma walked out of the room. Without a word, Finn and Rey got dressed. There was no need for conversation, he mused. There was no way King Kylo Ren would be lenient. And there was nothing to say about that.

Downstairs, Finn spotted Lor San Tekka with a knife at his throat. An army of Stormtroopers were waiting in the small inn. Maz was nowhere to be found, though. A small part of him wondered if she had escaped after alerting Queen Leia. That small part of him was satisfied when he didn’t see her outside, either. Maybe, just maybe, someone was going to make it out alive today. Some Stormtroopers had gathered the village’s people at the feet of three people on fathiers. King Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma and Sorcerer Palpatine.

“The kidnapped Prince of Naboo, back with his allies again,” said Palpatine.

Finn shivered at the sound of his voice. How he hated it.

“Ah, but how will you capture us?” protested Rey in that witty voice of hers. “We know the secrets of the Dagoba Swamp. It’s right outside this village. We can live there quite happily for some time, so whenever you feel like dying, feel free to visit.”

Finn didn’t know whether he wanted to shake her or kiss her. Maybe both.

Probably both.

“I tell you once again,” cut in King Kylo Ren. “Surrender!”

“It will not happen.”

“For the last time, surrender!”

“Death first!”

Finn turned his head away. A little girl whimpered. She was sitting with the woman who had been cutting wood with an axe yesterday. A sword was pointed at her throat.

“Will you promise not to hurt them?” he asked.

“What was that?” asked King Kylo Ren and Rey at the same time.

He stared at King Kylo Ren with unwavering determination. “If we surrender and I return with you, will you promise not to hurt this woman? And these people? They don’t deserve to be hurt. They deserve peace and quiet. Like my people.”

Kylo Rem sneered. “May I live a thousand years and never pillage again.”

“She is a sailor on the pirate ship the  _ Executor _ . Promise to return her to her ship.”

Silence stretched into eternity. King Kylo Ren nodded. “I swear it will be done.”

Finn turned to Rey. “I thought you were dead once and it almost destroyed me. I could not bear it if you died again, not when I could save you. And I’ll never stop fighting for people who need me. Like my people before them.”

“Don’t go.”

“Take care of yourself, Rey. Please.”

Finn climbed behind Captain Phasma. They rode off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Desperation.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Rey was the only one who remained standing in front of Kylo Ren.

“How did you manage to sneak into that room without me noticing?” she asked him. She raised her chin, defiant when his mouth twisted into a deeper sneer. “I’m Force sensitive, you know. Just like you. Yet, I couldn’t feel you at all.”

She didn’t say anything about Finn’s Force sensitivity. He didn’t need to know that.

“I can cloak my Force signature.”

“Ah. A mighty feat.”

“Thank you.” That didn’t sound sincere. Nothing about King Kylo Ren sounded so. Was that even his real name? “Come, ma’am,” he said. “We must get you to your ship.”

She smiled.

“We are people of action. Lies do not become us.”

“Well spoken, pirate,” spat the man in the black hood standing next to Ren.

She turned to him. She looked him over. Up and down. He didn’t look human at all. His skin, cadaverous, was so wrinkled it looked paper thin. Unnatural golden eyes glared at her. Sparks crackled at his fingertips. She arched an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“You can wield lightning. Someone was looking for you.”

Kylo Ren turned his fathier around. “Kill them all. Except her.”

People screamed. A Stormtrooper lit up a torch. Another raised their sword. Before Rey could react, someone hit her over the head. Everything went black. 

The hit unlocked something in Rey’s mind. Many things. More than one. Her dreams were plagued by visions. At least, she thought she was dreaming. Or having visions. Those visions… apparitions... looked incredibly real. More like memories than nightmares. For these were nightmares. At first, they were sweet dreams. Dreams of people. Smiling people. A mother. A father. A brother. A favorite uncle. No, make that two. Three! Three favorite uncles. Two human, the other not. They didn’t have faces, but at the same time, she knew they were smiling. Warm. They were warm. The family she’d known once. Before she was taken. Taken? The people melted away, snow in the wind. 

Rain crashed down upon her. Cold. Dark blue. The night. She was running through the night. No, she wasn’t running. Now she was in her bed, under the covers. A little girl’s room. A hand grabbed her hair tied in buns and pulled her out. Rey screamed. Her hands and feet were bound together. Sunlight. A beautiful day. Salty air. An ocean. She was onboard a ship. Someone had taken her from her family. 

She needed to find them. She needed to go back! 

A pirate appeared. She remembered his name. A name. Unkar Plutt. He was a rival. But not to her. To whom? Someone. Another pirate. The Dread Pirate Vader. No.  _ She _ was the Dread Pirate Vader. But she hadn’t been, back then. He wanted to make her family suffer. So he kidnapped her. Took her from her bed. Every day she tried to get away. Every day for years. Hurt. Everything hurt. Her nails scratched against wooden walls. 

A mirror appeared. She was fourteen now. No longer a child. She escaped. 

She managed to escape.

The wind picked up. Clouds filled the sky. A storm. The waves turned gigantic. Still, she had to get back home. They needed her. Something hit her head. A bucket filled with food. She’d stowed it away from Unkar Plutt’s ship. She knew that. Why did she know that? The waves crashed against her. Everything turned dark. Rey opened her eyes. There was a boy. A lovely, lovely boy. He was resuscitating her. She stared at him. Who was he? Where was she? All she knew was a name. Rey. That was her name and he wouldn’t take it away from her.

She watched the boy for years. He was sweet and kind. He helped a little girl when she fell. Bandaged her knee and watched her go. He taught a little boy to read while his parents were too busy with work. Closed his book and rewarded him with candy. She always watched him when he was in town, but never got close. She only brought pain to people who got close to her. She couldn’t remember why or how, but she knew it was true. The boy was a noble, nay, he was royalty. He became Prince, weighted down by responsibilities. She couldn’t see him anymore. She really wanted to see him.

Then, he reappeared into her life. A whirlwind. A bird, home from winter.

He was home. She needed to go back to him, too.

“Finn!”

Rey jerked awake. She was covered in sweat. Someone stood over her. A statue. No. This was a real person. In the flesh. Hidden behind silver armor. 

The infamous Captain Phasma.

“Where am I?”

“The Pit of Despair,” came her voice, metallic behind her helmet. “Don’t even think…” Phasma coughed. Two hands reached for her helmet and she removed it. She shook her head. Short hair fell into her eyes. In a normal voice, Phasma said: “It’s a fancy word for the dungeons. Don't even think about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick. And don't dream of being rescued, either. Everyone is too scared to come down here. And even if they wanted to, they wouldn’t bother. No one can hear you scream.”

“Then I’m here ‘till I die?”

“‘Till they kill you, yeah.”

“What will they do to me?”

Phasma pursed her lips. “I believe they’ll break you. That sounds like Ren.”

“So it's to be tortured then?”

Phasma nodded. 

“I can cope with torture.”

Phasma nodded negatively.

“Don't believe me?”

“You survived the Dagoba Swamp,” pointed out Phasma, “you must be very brave. But nobody withstands the Machine.” She walked away and slammed the door shut.

* * *

Finn, King Kylo Ren and his small army made it back to Alderaan that same night. It was truly amazing how knowledgeable sailors and cavaliers made travelling so much faster. He sat upon his bed, thinking. It was as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t helped Poe Dameron a few mornings before. As if he hadn’t been kidnapped. As if he hadn’t met Luke Skywalker, former Dread Pirate Vader, or Han Solo, smuggler turned Prince consort to a Queen, or Chewbacca, their Wookiee friend. It was as if the current-Dread Pirate Vader had never killed their boss, Jabba. It was as if he’d never found Rey. Alive and well.

_ Everything _ had changed, in those few days.

Prince Finn went back to his usual activities. Which meant not trusting King Kylo Ren. He didn’t think that man could keep a promise if his life depended on it. Finn renewed contact with the Resistance. Soon enough, the Falcon - Lando Calrissian’s nickname - told him in a letter that Black Bird - Poe Dameron’s nickname - had made it home. That renewed Finn’s confidence in this fight. Often, when he wasn’t attending meetings or spying on King Kylo Ren, he’d wander the castle’s hallways. Not out of boredom, though. His renewed confidence in the Resistance meant that every moment of every day, he was trying to learn something new. About the castle. About King Kylo Ren and his allies. About anyone, really.

Two days after leaving Rey, he’d learned two things at the castle.

1: The Stormtroopers’ unwavering loyalty was starting to crack. King Kylo Ren had become more rash and even more cruel these days. He could sometimes be heard throwing insults or his sword around. All Stormtroopers avoided him. Finn listened carefully at those who couldn’t, because they were on duty or had somehow been assigned to him. He listened to grumbles. To question of loyalty. Their loyalty for their King.

“Why should we be his punching bag?” 

“Why should we let ourselves be treated like that?” 

“Why aren’t we fighting back?” 

Finn listened to traitorous conversations under the cover of night. Finn listened so well, in fact, he got wind of a Stormtrooper rebellion. Something that went right under King Kylo Ren’s nose. Something the Resistance could easily exploit. All those Stormtroopers needed was just a little push in the right direction.

2: There was something going on between King Kylo Ren and General Hux. At first, he’d presumed it was plotting and scheming against the Hosnian Republic. Or maybe just plotting and scheming against Sorcerer Palpatine and Captain Phasma. In any case, it was his duty to investigate. What Finn hadn’t quite expected, though, was following King Kylo Ren to General Hux’s bedroom door. Late in the evening. The night, even. Hux came out, pristine as ever. They glared at each other, as they usually did.

“What is it,  _ my King? _ ”

“I think you know exactly what is it,  _ General. _ ”

Hux looked down at Ren’s lips. Then back up at his eyes.

They kissed, rough and deep. Ren’s hands went to Hux’s face. Hux fumbled with the doorknob. King Kylo Ren pushed the both of them inside. The door clicked shut. Finn put a hand near his face, shielding his eyes. He walked back to his room. That’s about the time he stopped investigating King Kylo Ren. There were things he really,  _ really  _ didn’t want to know. Especially not what happened behind closed doors. Sure, he liked people of all genders and didn’t judge others. But that didn’t mean he wanted to know that Kylo Ren and Hux were a thing. Still, he had to admit: they deserved each other.

So those were the two things Finn learned in those two days.

And yet, there was one thing that Finn didn’t learn in those two days. Something that frayed on his nerves. One thing he didn’t learn. What had happened to Rey.

Finn didn’t trust King Kylo Ren. That was a fact. He also didn’t trust his “promises” either. So every once in a while, he’d walk around the castle, feigning melancholy and losing track of time. It was an easy feat. He felt trapped in here. Any misstep on his own part and he’d be found. His whole plan would fall apart. And his mother was sick, too. Her illness had taken a turn for the worse in the past few days. So Finn walked down the hallways. Down the stairs. To the Pit of Despair. Something pulled him there - his link with the Force, maybe - more than once. But she wasn’t there. There was no one in here. None.

Finn didn’t see Rey.

And Rey didn’t see Finn.

King Kylo Ren used the Force to make sure of that.

“He’s been like that since the Dagoba Swamp,” said King Kylo Ren when Finn wandered around him and Sorcerer Palpatine, the second day’s evening. “It’s his mother’s failing health that’s upsetting him.”

“Of course.”

It was and it wasn’t. 

He’d almost been caught by Phasma in the Pit of Despair. 

He wouldn’t go back after that.

When Finn made it to his room late that night, a letter was waiting on his bed. He opened it with trembling hands. Finn collapsed. His mother the Queen had died in her bed that evening. Asleep. Peaceful. That night King Kylo Ren pulled on strings and manipulated Finn’s grief into signing a treaty. A treaty that, in other words, said that the Kingdom of Naboo fell to King Kylo Ren’s army. Permanently.

That next morning, the crowd gathered around their King. Finn was introduced to the people of Alderaan as Kylo Ren’s most trusted and permanent ally.

“Prince Finn’s mother the Queen’s last words were…”

* * *

“Hold it, hold it, Grandpa!” Jaina waved her arms around. Grandpa looked up. “You… you read that wrong! Finn doesn’t side with Kylo Ren, he sides with Rey and the Resistance! I'm just sure of it. After all that Rey did for her, and after all he did for them, if he doesn’t side with them it wouldn't be fair.”

“Well, who says life is fair?” Grandpa countered, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. “Where is that written? Life isn't always fair.”

“I'm telling you, you're messing up the story, now get it right!”

“Do you want me to go on with this?”

Jaina slumped down on her pillows. “Yes.”

“All right, then. No more interrogations.” Grandpa cleared his throat. “‘That next morning, the crowd gathered around their King. Finn was introduced to the people of Alderaan as Kylo Ren’s most trusted and permanent ally.’”

* * *

“Prince Finn’s mother the Queen’s last words were: ‘Love my Kingdom as I have loved it and there will be joy.’ I present to you my greatest ally, Prince Finn of Naboo!”

Finn stepped out on the stage, in front of the people of Alderaan. Formerly Alda. Now New Mustafar. His eyes itched and he tried his best to fight back tears. He swallowed. Walk, he told himself. Just walk. Breathe. That’s all you need to do.

“Boo! Boo! Boo!”

He turned his head towards an old woman. Her big round glasses made her eyes look way too big for her face. Wait. He knew that woman. She was Maz. The innkeeper. What was she doing here? Where was her husband? 

“Why do you do this? he asked her.

“Because you had love and peace in your hands, and you gave them up.”

“But they would have killed Rey if I hadn't done it. The Resistance… everyone.”

“Your True Love lives! The Resistance lives! And yet you ally with that monster.” Maz waved her arms around. “True Love saved him in the Dagoba Swamp, and he treated it like garbage. And that's what he is, the Prince of refuse.” People started to boo. A long chant that spread to King Kylo Ren, to General Hux, to Phasma and Palpatine and the rebelling Stormtroopers. No one respected him. No one. “So bow down to him if you want, bow to him. Bow to the Prince of slime, the Prince of filth, the Prince of putrescence. Boo! Boo! Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Boo! Boo!  _ Boo! _ ”

Finn woke up with a gasp. His body was covered in sweat. Yet, he shivered. He jumped out of bed and grabbed a jacket. It was the morning of the third day after he’d abandoned Rey. Determination boiled in his heart. In his mind. He knew what he had to do. Finn ran to King Kylo Ren’s office. He didn’t bother knocking. Finn pushed the door open. King Kylo Ren looked up from a letter he’d been writing.

* * *

“See?” Jaina crossed her arms over her chest. Smug. “Didn’t I tell you he’d never ally with that rotten Kylo Ren?”

“Yes, you’re very smart. Shut up.”

* * *

Finn pushed the door open. King Kylo Ren looked up from a letter he’d been writing.

“If it comes to this,” he said, not in the slightest out of breath. “I love Rey. I always have. I know now I always will. And I’ll never sign that treaty of yours.” Finn walked into the office until he was standing over the desk. He put both his hands down on it and stared down the dreadful man right in the eyes. His jaw clenched, he said: “You can’t use her as a manipulation mechanism. Or my mother, for that matter.” Finn left out the part where he planned to run away, but he still had a threat in his eyes. He wanted Ren to think the worst.

King Kylo Ren sat back in his chair. He sent a glance to Palpatine, in the corner.

“You, huh, returned this Rey to her ship?”

Palpatine nodded. “Yes.”

“Then we will simply alert her. Prince Finn, are you certain she still wants you? After all, it was you who did the leaving in that village near the Dagoba Swamp. Not to mention that…” He leaned against his desk, hand gesturing casually. “...pirates are not known to be women of their words.”

“My Rey will always come for me.”

“I suggest a deal. You write four copies of a letter. I'll send my four fastest ships, one in each direction. The Dread Pirate Vader is always close to Alderaan this time of year. We'll run up the white flag and deliver your message. If Rey wants you, bless you both. If not, please consider my treaty. Are we agreed?”

Finn nodded. Tensely. He left. 

But now, he knew the truth. They were liars, the lot of them! No one could look Prince Finn in the eyes and lie that easily. No one.

* * *

Later that day, King Kylo Ren wandered the woods outside New Mustafar with Sorcerer Palpatine. Sometimes, he liked to use the secret exit to get into the Pit of Despair. A reason to take a little walk. Especially when he was disturbed or angrier than usual. Therefore he enjoyed this retreat in nature. Birds sang in the trees and light filtered through branches. A lovely day, all things considered. Too bad he couldn’t spend it torturing someone.

After all, who was he kidding? He loved torturing people.

“Your Prince is really quite a winning creature,” said Palpatine in that awful voice of his. “A trifle simple, perhaps, but his appeal is undeniable.”

“Oh, I know, the people are quite taken with him. It's odd, but when I hired Jabba to have him murdered and make his mother sign the treaty in his place, for he is a stubborn lad, I thought that was clever. But it's going to be so much more moving when I strangle him on the night of the treaty. Once Hosnian is blamed, the nation will be truly outraged. They'll demand we go to war. Again.”

They reached a part of the woods where the trunks of trees became closer and closer together. The air was stiffer. Holding its breath. It was darker, too. Light barely filtered through the branches, here. A familiar setting.

“Hmmm,” said Palpatine. King Kylo Ren cringed at the sound. “Now where is that secret knot?” He groped around the trees. “It's impossible to find. Hah!” Sorcerer Palpatine pulled on the right knot and the secret door opened in the trunk. “Are you coming down into the Pit? Rey’s ready to be broken, I believe. I'm starting her on the Machine tonight.”

“Palpatine, you know how much I love torturing people,” he said, feeling honestly pained for once, “but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my treaty to arrange, my ally to murder, and Hosnian to frame for it. I'm swamped!”

Palpatine nodded. 

“Get some rest. If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything.”

And thus, Palpatine started down into the Pit of Despair.

* * *

Rey took in a deep breath. It wasn’t as easy as that may sound. Her throat ached. Her back ached. Her head ached. They hadn’t fed her or made her drink anything in going on three days now. She’d basically been all alone, tied to this table, for three days straight. A lovely attempt at breaking her. It wouldn’t work.

That’s what she thought. Until the lightning-wielding man walked in. Captain Phasma tied Rey up with leather straps. She rolled her table under the machine. 

“Beautiful, isn't it?” asked the lightning-wielding man. Rey looked at him over the mask Phasma was wrapping around her face. “Took me half a lifetime to invent it. I'm sure you've discovered my deep and abiding interest in pain.” Phasma covered Rey’s body - left almost bare, except for her trousers and a piece of cloth Phasma had found somewhere and wrapped around Rey’s torso - with grey… things that stuck to her skin. “At present, I'm writing the definitive work on the subject, so I want you to be totally honest with me on how the Machine makes you feel. This being our first try, I'll use the lowest setting.”

The lightning-wielding man - funny how Rey didn’t know his name but she knew Phasma’s - grabbed a lever and pulled it up. Level one.

Water poured in from somewhere high above her. Rey thought they would drown her.

They weren’t going to.

The water made a wheel spin. The Machine activated. Pain flared in Rey. Her body tensed up. She’d never felt such pain. It went everywhere, from her torso to the tips of her toes and fingers. It was as if a hundred swords were chopping her up at the same time in an endless loop. Chop. Put her back together. Chop again. Endlessly. 

Finally, oh so finally, the lightning-wielding man pulled down the lever. 

The pain receded. 

“As you know,” the lightning-wielding man said, sitting at a desk and picking up a quill, as if this was a picnic and not a torture session, “the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. Well, really that's all this is except that instead of sucking water, I'm sucking life. I've just sucked one year of your life away. I might one day go as high as five, but I really don't know what that would do to you, so let's just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. How do you feel?”

She started to cry.

“Interesting.”

The lightning-wielding man started to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Brute squads against friends.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

General Hux stepped in King Kylo Ren’s office.

“Ahem!”

King Kylo Ren looked up from his work. “General.”

“My King.”

Hux walked into the room. King Kylo Ren said: “As chief enforcer of all Alderaan, I trust you with this secret: killers from Hosnian are infiltrating the Smugglers’ Forest and plan to murder Prince Finn tonight, after the treaty.”

Hux frowned. The man was lying. “My spy network has heard no such news.”

“They are.”

“And yet you plan to sign the treaty tonight?”

King Kylo Ren’s eye twitched. “Yes. Is that of your concern?”

“No, my King.”

Someone knocked at the door. Prince Finn walked in a moment later. 

“Any word from Rey?”

King Kylo Ren rubbed at his temples with two hands. Hux could almost hear his thoughts. _ Why were his subordinates always asking questions today? Would it be too hard to say, “Yes, sir, at your service, sir!” without any more inquiry? Besides, they’d barely sent those letters earlier that morning! No way had those even reached the shores. _

“Too soon, Prince Finn. Patience.”

“She’ll come for me.”

“Of course.”

He nodded and walked out. King Kylo Ren turned back to General Hux. “He will not be murdered. I want the Smugglers’ Forest emptied, and every inhabitant arrested.”

“Many of the smugglers will resist. My regular enforcers will be inadequate.”

“Form a brute squad, then! I want the Smugglers’ Forest emptied.”

“It won’t be easy, my King.”

“Try ruling the world, sometime.”

* * *

The brute squad brought chaos upon the Smugglers’ Forest. Luke remained in the bushes, avoiding the Stormtroopers. One spotted him, but Luke lifted a hand and manipulated them with a little Force mind trick. The Stormtrooper walked away. Luke hid behind a tree and watched as the group of large men gathered the smugglers around. Their leader, a man with a perpetually sour face, stepped upon a wagon.

“Is everybody out?” he asked one of his men.

“Almost, General. There’s a Wookiee giving us some trouble.”

“Well, you give it some trouble. Move!”

Luke smiled. He knew exactly which Wookiee he was talking about.

Luke crept to the edges of the forest. Keeping his distance from the crowd. He found Han and Chewie where he knew he’d find them. In front of their little hut. His heart grew heavy when he saw what had happened to his old friend. Han was sitting with his back against the hut’s exterior wall. Completely drunk. Sweaty and unable to move. Chewie was by his side. Eying their surroundings. Ready for a fight.

“I am waiting for you, Jabba,” said Han. “You told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am and this is where I’ll stay. I will not be moved.”

Drinking was what Han had needed to fight his all consuming grief.

Luke put a hand on the hilt of his sword when a brute came around the corner of the small hut. “Ho there!”

“I do not budge,” answered Han. “Keep your ‘ho there’.”

“But the King gave orders…”

Han jumped to his feet. “The King, huh? I once held that boy in my hands! He gave orders? So did Jabba. When a job went wrong, you went back to the beginning. And this is where we get the job. So it’s the beginning. And I’m staying ‘till Jabba comes.”

Han grabbed the knife inside his boot. He waved it around. Luke decided enough was enough. He stepped out of the bushes and put the flat of his blade against Han’s arm.

“ _ Tsk, tsk, tsk _ . You wouldn’t want to sully this knife with his blood, would you?”

Han looked at Luke. Mouth agape.

“Hello,” said Luke.

“It’s you.”

Chewbacca growled. “True!”

“Can you let him maim me? Just a ‘lil bit. Please, Luke.”

Luke rolled his eyes. Surely Han meant “let me maim him”. He nodded. Negatively.

“Not with that knife. Take this.”

Luke unsheathed the second sword that hung on his hip. He offered it to Han. Han himself took it with a look of such wonder that Luke thought he’d become a five-year-old again. Or maybe that was how Luke looked when he was eleven. When his father was alive.

“My old sword. Where’dya get that?”

“Leia sent it to me.”

“You spoke to her?”

Luke put a hand on his hip. “Yeah,  _ she  _ talked to me. She’s on her way.”

“Really?” 

“Hm, hm. So take out your anger on that man if you want, but I’m going to get you back on your feet before she sees you like that.”

“Good. AAAARGH!”

Han charged at the brute. The brute ran away. Screaming. Luke shook his head.

“We have a lot of work to do, Chewie.”

Chewie and Luke nursed Han back to health. A lot of rest, eating better, and maybe or maybe not throwing his head in a few barrels of cold water for good measure, too. That had been Chewie’s idea. At least, that’s what Luke would always swear by.

“That’s enough, that’s enough!” exclaimed Han, wet from head to toe. 

When Han was better, he became once more Luke’s fearless friend he remembered from their many adventures on the high seas together. With the three of them sitting in the hut, Luke explained about Jabba’s death at the hands of a girl named Rey, his apprentice. He also spoke of Sorcerer Palpatine, the name of the man who had killed Luke’s father. He’d only learned the name a few days ago. But now he knew where he was.

“So where is that man, so you can kill him?”

“He’s with Ben, in the castle.”

Chewie bristled at the name. A growl. “Can we still call him Ben?”

“Of course we can,” said Han. “He’s my son. King of Mustafar or not.”

Han took a sip from his glass. Only water. 

“How many could you handle?” Han asked Chewie.

A roar. “I don’t think more than ten.”

“And you, Luke?”

“A few. But they’re too many. Their ranks are growing every day.”

“We need help to make a plan.”

“Why?” Luke’s face twisted in a frown. “I’m not good at making plans?”

“They’re always way too complicated. We need good, not complicated.”

Luke crossed his arms over his chest. “Right, right.”

“We need Jabba to make a plan.”

A groan. “But Jabba’s dead,” argued Chewie.

Han snapped his finger. He got up, almost hitting his head on the ceiling. “No, we don’t need Jabba. We need the masked woman. I mean… I mean Rey.”

“Han,” said Luke. “About Rey. There’s something I need to tell you. I think she’s…”

“Look.” Han wasn’t listening. To Chewie, he said: “She bested you with strength, your greatness. She bested Luke with steel. She must have out-thought Jabba. And a woman who can do that can plan our castle onslaught any day. Let's go.”

“Where?” asked Chewie.

“To find the masked woman - Rey! Obviously!”

Chewie let out a whiny growl. “But we don’t know where she is!”

“Don't bother me with trifles. After fifty years, at last Luke’s father's soul will be at peace. There will be blood tonight!”

Han was out the door a moment later. Chewie followed. Luke sighed.

“Why does no one listen to me?”

* * *

General Hux stepped in King Kylo Ren’s office. King Kylo Ren stared at him for a long moment. He was on his way out. Clutching a letter in his hand. General Hux opened his mouth and closed it. Kylo Ren had no patience for that. Not at this moment. He had places to be, the Force be with him.

“Rise and report.”

“The Smugglers’ Forest is emptied. Thirty men guard the castle gate.”

“Double it. No. Quadruple it. The Prince must be safe.”

“The gate has but one key, and I carry it.”

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

He crept in Prince Finn’s room without being heard or seen. Prince Finn lifted his quill. It was halfway to the parchment when a hand gloved all in black grabbed his wrist. “Now whom would you be writing to, Prince Finn?” King Kylo Ren’s eyes gleamed. Menacing. “I thought those letters to those ships had already been sent.”

Finn swallowed. “They were. I am writing my mother.”

“Stop lying to me.”

“I am not!”

“Then what is this?”

Kylo Ren slapped the letter against the table. Prince Finn flinched.

“ _ My Dearest Lady, _ ” he mocked. “Would you be writing my Mother, perhaps? Do you have friends in the Resistance, Prince Finn?”

“No.”

“Stop. Lying. To me!”

Prince Finn opened his mouth to argue. King Kylo Ren unsheathed his sword. 

“Shut up!” He put his sword at Prince Finn’s neck. Taking a deep breath, he put it back in its scabbard. “I’ll leave you alive. Why? Because we have a treaty to sign. As you may have heard, we’re signing it tonight! Or else.”

“You never sent those ships. You never let Rey go. You probably murdered all those poor people in that village. Don’t bother lying. Doesn’t matter. Rey will come for me.”

“Shut. Up!”

“You can't hurt me,” argued Prince Finn. “Rey and I are joined by the bonds of the Force. You won’t ever break it. And when I say you are a coward, that is only because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl this planet!”

Kylo Ren breathed in. Breathed out. “You know what happens to those who betray me.”

King Kylo Ren was halfway to the door when he added:

“And if you try to escape… your mothers die.”

King Kylo Ren slammed the door behind him. He let out a scream of frustration. Then, he marched down the stairs of his own castle. Stormtroopers jumped aside to avoid his overwhelming anger. By the time King Kylo Ren was in the Pit of Despair, he was seeing blood red. His breathing came out hoarse and itched down his throat. Rey’s eyes landed on him. They grew wide. Wide with fear. She was scared. Good. More people needed to be scared of him around here. Hands clenched into fists, he pushed Captain Phasma aside. He leaned down next to Rey’s ear, ignoring Palpatine’s protests.

“What is it with you, Rebel scum? What do you have that I don’t?” He sniffed derisively. “Bonded by the Force! Right. You truly love each other, and so you might have been truly happy. Not one couple in a century has that chance, no matter what the storybooks say. So I think no woman in a century will suffer as greatly as you will.”

He grabbed the Machine’s lever and pushed it all the way up.

“No!” said Palpatine. “Not to fifty!”

Rey screamed.

* * *

Everyone in the Kingdom heard that scream. 

General Hux heard it from King Kylo Ren’s office. He resumed his reading.

Finn heard it from his room. He jumped to his feet. Yet when he got to the door, FN-2003, the Stormtrooper assigned to him, pointed his sword at him. Finn sat back down.

Queen Leia of Alderaan heard it as she helped Rose walk down from the ship. She exchanged a look first with Poe, then with Lando. Lando looked the most solemn of them all. Leia gazed in the castle’s general direction. Her eyes turned watery. Whatever evil scheme her son had planned, it had been put into action.

And Han Solo heard that scream. He put a hand to Chewie’s chest.

“Chewie! Chewie! Listen! Do you hear?”

Luke gasped. Chewie turned to him.

A moan. “You know what that means?”

“That is the sound of ultimate suffering,” he answered, his eyes glazing over. “My heart made that sound when Palpatine slaughtered my father.” 

Han’s eyes filled with tears. He blinked them away, clenching his hands into fists. He would not cry. His nails dug into the palms of his hands. “Mine made it when my daughter was taken away from me.”

His shoulders sank and his hands relaxed.

“And the masked woman makes it now.”

Another moan. “The masked woman?” asked Chewie.

“Yes, Chewie! The masked woman. Rey! Her True Love is signing a treaty tonight, so who else has the cause for ultimate suffering?

Luke put a hand over his heart. “Poor Rey. What have they done to you?”

Han started to push and pull through the crowd.

“Excuse me! Pardon me! It’s important!”

No one listened.

“Ha,” laughed Luke humorlessly. “Now you know how that feels.”

“Very funny, Luke. Chewie, please.”

Two powerful roars. “Everybody MOVE!”

The crowd parted. 

Han grinned. “Thank you.”

They followed a path into the woods, not far from the castle. Han hadn’t felt more alive in years. Maybe it was the cold water. Or maybe it was an adrenaline rush. Or maybe it was the thought that finally,  _ finally,  _ he had a goal in mind and could ignore the painful hole in his chest where his heart was. Even for the briefest of moments, he forgot about the day when he woke up to find his daughter’s bed empty. Han marched through the woods until he encountered a woman dressed in a silver suit of armor. Her helmet was off so he could see her young face. She was pushing a wheelbarrow away. Han unsheathed his sword. It felt good to have it back in his hand. He thrust the blade under the woman’s chin.

She froze.

“Where is the masked woman?” The woman in armor turned to him without any fear in her eyes. “You get that from this grove, yes? Chewie, jog her memory.”

Chewie punched the top of her head. The woman fell. Out cold.

Chewie groaned. “I’m sorry, Han. I didn’t mean to jog her so hard. Luke?”

Han spun around. Luke had walked away a few paces. Down on one knee, he had unsheathed his father’s sword and pointed it at the sky. He remained like that. Eyes closed. 

“Luke?” asked Han.

Luke opened his eyes. The sun shone upon his blade. 

“Father, I have failed you for fifty years. Now our misery can end. Somewhere, somewhere close by is a woman who can help us. I cannot find her alone. I need you. I need you to guide my sword. Please, guide my sword.”

Han swallowed down a snarky retort. Not the time.

Luke got up. Slowly. He walked around the forest floor. Slowly. With a purpose that didn’t belong to him, it seemed. As if his father’s spirit was actually guiding his sword. Luke went left. Then right. He turned around. His arms outstretched, his sword in front of him. Three, four, five steps forward. Then his sword finally hit the trunk of an ordinary-looking tree. Again, Han bit back a sarcastic remark. Something about wasted time.

Disappointed, Luke leaned against the tree.

Then, something truly, truly magical happened.

A door opened inside the trunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: we witness a miracle and all pieces fall together.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Luke tried to hide his shiver when he stepped in the Pit of Despair. He’d heard rumors about this place. Where those who stood up against King Kylo Ren ended up. Dead or worse. Left alive with barely a breath, to die a slow, painful death. Tales had escaped such bloodbath because someone had overheard someone who had overheard King Kylo Ren talking about it. A part of him had hoped it wasn’t real. Still, Luke shivered. It was warm in here. That wasn’t the issue. What was the issue was the enormous Machine around which Rey had been tied. What kind of monster created such a thing?

Chewie leaned his head against Rey’s chest. 

He roared. “She’s dead.”

Luke buried his face in his hands.

“It’s just not fair,” said Han.

* * *

“Grandpa, Grandpa!” Jaina gripped her bed sheets tightly. “Wait, wait. What did Chewie mean ‘She’s dead’? I mean, he didn’t mean dead. Rey’s only faking. Right?”

“You want me to read this or not?”

“Who gets Kylo Ren?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who kills King Kylo Ren? At the end. Somebody’s gotta do it. Is it Han? Who?”

“You want Han to kill his own son?”

“He’s a murderer and a torturer! Of course he should!”

“Well, I’m going to disappoint you. Nobody does. Nobody kills him. He lives.”

“You mean he wins? The Force, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?”

Grandpa closed the book. He started to get up. “You know, you've been very sick and you're taking this story very seriously. I think we better stop now.”

“No, I'm okay. I’m okay. Sit down. I’m all right.”

“Okay.” Grandpa sat back down, a knowing smile on his face. “Now let's see, where were we? Ohhh, yes. In the Pit of Despair.”

* * *

Han was heartbroken.

“Look at her,” he said. “She looks so young.”

“I know.”

“She looks almost… almost like she could be her age.”

Luke’s hands fell to the side. “Han…”

“Well,” said Han without missing a beat, “the Solos have never taken defeat easily. Come along, Luke. Chewie? Bring the body.”

“The body?” Chewie asked.

“Why won’t you listen to me?” Luke asked.

But Han’s mind wasn’t into it. “Have you my money?”

Chewie growled. “A little.”

“I just hope it’s enough to buy a miracle, that’s all.”

“A miracle?” Luke’s eyebrows flew to his hairline. His voice sounded apprehensive when he said: “I thought you didn’t believe in the Force.”

“I don’t. But I believe in Threepio.”

And thus, they walked all the way back to the Smugglers’ Forest. Han had never believed in the Force and all that mumbo jumbo, but he believed in a man named Threepio who made miracles. For a price. That was the reason he believed in Miracle Threepio. No one did miracles because they could. If there was anything he’d ever learned in this life, it was that money ruled the world, after all. And Luke’s overwhelmingly optimistic personality would never change that. Never. Not at all.

Han knocked at the door to a small hut. And again. And again.

Someone shouting “go away!” could be heard from outside. A man appeared. He opened a square window in the door, barely big enough so that his face could be seen.

“What, what?”

Han didn’t let himself be intimidated. He asked: “Are you the Miracle Threepio who worked for the Queen of Alderaan all those years?”

He sneered. “After exiling the Queen, Kylo Ren fired me. And thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? We're closed.”

And with that, he closed the door.

Han knocked again. Undeterred.

Miracle Threepio opened the door again. “Beat it, or I'll call the brute squad!”

Chewie growled. Han translated: “He’s on the brute squad.”

“You’re on the brute squad?

Miracle Threepio looked Chewie up and down.

Han took in a deep breath. “We need a miracle. It’s very important.”

“Look, I'm retired. And besides, why would you want someone that stinking King fired? I might kill whoever you wanted me to miracle.”

“She’s already dead,” pointed out Luke.

“She is, huh? I’ll take a look. Bring her in.”

Han and Chewie settled Rey’s body down on a table inside the hut. Miracle Threepio picked up her arm and dropped it. She was limp. He nodded.

“I’ve seen worse.”

He pressed down on her chest. Mumbled under his breath. Han noticed Luke sit down in a chair, his head in one hand. He didn’t seem like he believed at all. That was… oddly uncharacteristic of him, Han figured. Then again, the man did look like a charlatan. And he probably looked even more like one to a man who could actually do magic. Not that Han believed in that. Because he didn’t. He really didn’t.

“Sir… sir?”

Miracle Threepio looked up at Han.

“We’re in a terrible rush.”

“Don't rush me, sonny.” Miracle Threepio returned his attention to Rey. “You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. You got money?”

“Sixty-five.”

“Sheesh! I never worked for so little.”

In the corner, Luke huffed.

“Except once, and that was a very noble cause.”

“This is noble sir. Her wife is... sick. The children are on the brink of starvation.”

Miracle Threepio put two hands on his hips. “Are you a rotten liar!”

“I need her to help avenge my father,” cut in Luke, “murdered these fifty years.”

Han covered his eyes with the palm of one hand.

“Your first story was better. Where's that bellows crammed?” Miracle Threepio stepped away from them and rummaged through a shelf hanging over a roaring fire. He walked strangely, Han noticed. Stiffly. Like he needed to be oiled. “She probably owes you money, huh? Well, I'll ask her.”

“She’s dead,” deadpanned Han. “She can’t talk.”

“Hoo hoo hoo!” Miracle Threepio turned around with an air bellows bigger than his chest in his hands. He walked over to Rey. “Look who knows so much, heh? Well, it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Please, open her mouth.” Han did as instructed and Miracle Threepio put the air bellows into Rey’s mouth. “Now, mostly dead is slightly alive.” With a cryptic smile, Miracle Threepio pushed on the levers. Pushing air into her lungs. “Now, all dead...well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing you can do.”

“What’s that?” asked Luke.

“Go through her clothes and look for loose change.”

Miracle Threepio put the bellows away. He bent down above Rey’s head.

“Hey! Hello in there!” he said to Rey’s dead body. “What’s so important? What you got there that’s worth living for?”

He pushed down upon her chest. 

Rey answered: “Truuuuuue Loooooooove..”

Miracle Threepio dropped his hands. He looked up. Face paler than usual.

“‘True Love’, you heard him?” Han moved forward into Miracle Threepio’s face. “You could not ask for a more noble cause than that.”

“Yeah.” Miracle Threepio started to sweat buckets. “True Love is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, when the mutton is nice and lean, and the tomato is ripe.” He made a puckering sound with his mouth. “They're so perky. I love that. But that's not what she said. She distinctly said ‘To blave’ and as we all know, to blave means to bluff, heh? So you were probably playing cards, and she cheated…”

“Liar! Liar! LIAR!”

A man stepped around the corner, pointing an accusing finger at Miracle Threepio. Threepio stepped back with a yelp.

“Get back, warlock!”

“I’m not a warlock, I’m your husband,” he turned around to his guests and bowed, extremely politely. “The name’s Artoo, nice to meet you.” He turned back to Miracle Threepio. “But after what you’ve just said, I’m not even sure I want to be that anymore.”

“You never had it so good.”

“‘True Love,’ she said ‘True Love’, Threepio.”

“Not another word, Artoo.”

Artoo turned back to his guests. “He’s afraid. Ever since King Kylo Ren fired him, his confidence is shattered.”

“Why’d you say that name? You promised me that you would never say that name!”

“What? Kylo Ren?”

“Aargh!”

“Kylo Ren!” Artoo started to jump around Threepio. “Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren!”

Threepio covered his ears.

“I’m not listening!”

Han exchanged a glance with Luke. Luke smiled. They were charming. In a way.

“Your life's expiring, and you don't have the decency to say why you won't help.”

“Nobody’s hearing nothing!”

“Kylo Ren! Kylo Ren! Kylo Ren!”

Luke got up and proclaimed: “This is Prince Finn’s True Love. If you heal her, she will stop the treaty they’re supposed to sign. And they’ll never be allies. His war will fail.”

“Enough!” Miracle Threepio pushed Artoo aside and walked towards Han. There was so much hope, so much light in his eyes, the poor old man looked twenty years younger. “I make her better, Kylo Ren suffers?”

“Humiliations galore,” answered Han.

Miracle Threepio jumped up, giggling. He grabbed something above his fireplace. A small leather bag. “That is a noble cause! Gimme the sixty-five. I'm on the job.”

Artoo whooped.

Not too long after, Artoo was coating a pill with milk chocolate.

“That’s a miracle pill?” asked Luke, seemingly uncertain.

“The chocolate coating makes it go down easier,” explained Artoo, “but you have to wait fifteen minutes for full potency, and she shouldn't go in swimming after for at least…”

“An hour,” said Threepio.

“Yeah, an hour.”

“A good hour.”

Luke, Han and Chewie, who was carrying Rey’s body, walked out of the hut. Artoo and Miracle Threepio encouraged them:

“Bye, bye, boys! And girl!” 

“Have fun storming the castle!”

“Think it’ll work?” Artoo asked Threepio.

“It would take a miracle.”

“Bye bye!”

* * *

Lando Calrissian rubbed his arms with his hands. He wasn’t cold. He wasn’t even scared either. That was just something he did when he was nervous. And he was nervous. Yes. The Baron Administrator of the Great City-State of Bespin was nervous. Even after going on countless missions with Leia. Even after delivering spy letters back and forth from the Resistance base to the castle and back again. Even after being friends with Han Solo, of all people, for so long. There was something in the air that told him… that maybe, just maybe, this time was the most important of all. 

Maybe it was also the fact his daughter Jannah had come along and he didn’t want her to get hurt at the hands of King Kylo Ren.

Maybe it was that he feared for Prince Finn’s safety, too. 

Maybe it was also that he knew this war would only be over if they succeeded today.

Maybe. 

Just maybe.

“I’m nervous too, you know,” said Leia.

She really did look nervous. Her face was frowned and wrinkled. He must’ve looked the same. They weren’t getting any younger, after all. They were currently walking on the outskirts of the Smugglers’ Forest. Lando tried not to feel nostalgic at the thought, yet he couldn’t. This place had been his and Han’s old hideout. Word of rebelling peasants - those who had been displaced by King Kylo Ren’s brutes - had reached the Resistance. Soon enough, they had a small battalion at their disposal. A small battalion formed by a former Queen, a handful of peasants and a few brave but very mortal Resistance fighters. They wouldn’t be able to infiltrate the castle with that. 

“What do you mean? I’m not nervous.”

She raised both eyebrows at him. He laughed.

“All right. I am a little nervous. Just a little. You are? Too?”

Leia nodded. “I can feel Ben’s presence on the wind. It crushes hope.”

“Do you think it’s the Force warning us?”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “It binds us together, after all. All living things. Humans and those who aren’t. Trees and rocks and people. I can feel there’s a storm brewing.”

He looked up. “There’s no clouds in the sky.”

Leia laughed. “That was a figure of speech, old friend.”

“Ah. Right.”

Leaves ruffled in the bushes. Everyone stopped and drew their weapons. Even the peasants, fighting with spades and pitchforks. Footsteps came from the forest. People emerged from between the trees. Lando stared. Like everyone else. For the people who emerged from the trees were none other than Han Solo, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker. Lando’s eyes glided over to the body Chewie was holding in his arms. A girl’s body.

“What’s… going on here?”

Luke walked up to him and started explaining the situation at hand. And what a situation this whole mess was. Murder. Mayhem. Miracles. And let’s not forget True Love. The usual, then. Lando kept an eye on his closest friend. Han was still staring at Leia. Unable to make a move. Or talk, for that matter.

Finally, Han’s tongue materialized in his mouth.

“You changed your hair.”

“Same jacket.”

He opened his arms. She dove right in. People cheered. Luke smacked him on the back. Everyone hugged - all except Chewie, who still held the girl in his arms. Not long after, they all moved as one mass of hopeful people, walking away from the Smugglers’ Forest. They all walked as one towards King Kylo Ren’s castle.

By the time they reached the castle, they were already starting to form a plan.

Lando protested when Han, Chewie and Luke said they’d go first.

“So you already want to get away from me, old friend,” he told Han.

Han chuckled. “Let’s just say, I don’t really have a choice. Take care of them.”

“As always.”

Han walked a few paces forward. Then, he turned around.

“Take care of yourself, too.”

“Go, you pirate!”

They separated with these few words.

* * *

Luke helped Chewie settle Rey down. They had made it to the top of the battlement that overlooked the castle’s courtyard. A well-known feeling filled his gut. He still wasn’t entirely sure if Miracle Threepio’s pill would work. Actually, he lacked a lot of confidence in that plan. That man could’ve been a charlatan. Or worse. And yet… whenever his eyes landed on Rey, that poor girl, his apprentice, limp like that, eyes closed as if she were sleeping… he couldn’t bring himself to think that thought. It had to work.

Chewie made a soft groan. “Han, there’s more than thirty!”

“What’s the difference?” Han was half-carrying Rey. He lifted her head. “We’ve got her.” Her head fell down. “Help me, here. We’ll have to force-feed her.”

Han and Chewie put Rey down with her back against the turret. Luke watched.

“Has it been fifteen minutes?” asked Chewie.

“We can't wait. The treaty’s in half an hour. We must strike in the hustle and the bustle beforehand. Tilt her head back. Open her mouth.”

Han put the pill in Rey’s mouth. Luke looked away.

“How long do we have to wait, before we know the miracle works?”

Han scratched his cheek. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Rey opened her eyes. Luke let out a soft gasp.

“I’ll beat you three apart!” she yelled, confused. “I’ll take you both together!”

Chewie put a paw against her mouth. Shutting her up. “I guess not very long.”

Chewie removed his paw. Rey looked over at Master Luke. Her eyes went to Chewie, then to Han. She frowned. “Why won’t my arms move?”

“You’ve been mostly dead all day,” pointed out Chewie.

“We had Miracle Max make a pill to bring you back.”

Rey looked at Han as if he had grown a second head. Or maybe it was just the pill confusing her. Or maybe it had been the torture that made her not recognize any of them. In any case, she fired up many questions, all at once, her voice shaking: “Who are you? Are we enemies? Why am I on this wall? Where’s Finn?”

“Let me explain.” Han shook his head. “No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Finn is to sign the treaty with Kylo Ren in little less than half an hour, so all we have to do is get in, break up the treaty ceremony, steal the Prince, and make our escape.”

“After I kill Palpatine,” added Luke.

Rey tapped against her chest. “That doesn’t leave much time for dilly-dallying.”

“You just wiggled your finger!” said Chewie. “That’s wonderful!”

She smiled. “I’m always a quick healer. What are our liabilities?”

“There is but one working castle gate. And it is guarded by…” Han took a look over the turret. He looked back at them. “A hundred and twenty men.”

“And our assets?”

“Your brain. Chewie’s strength. And Luke’s and mine’s steel.”

Rey frowned. 

“You fight with a sword? I thought you were the translator.”

Han put a hand on his sword’s hilt. “A little. I’m out of shape, though.”

“Right. That’s it?”

“We’ve encountered the Resistance on our way here,” said Luke. “They recruited a few peasants. They’re nothing more than twenty, though.”

Rey shook her head. “Twenty-three people against sixty? Impossible.” Her eyes gazed from left to right. He could basically hear her thoughts spinning wildly inside her skull. “If I had a month to plan, maybe I could come up with something, but this…” 

“You just shook your head! That doesn't make you happy?”

Rey looked over at Chewie.

“My brains, your strength, their steel and a battalion of twenty against a hundred and twenty men, and you think a little head jiggle is supposed to make me happy? Hm?” Rey paused. She _tsk_ ed. “I mean, if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.”

“Where did you put that wheelbarrow that soldier woman had?” asked Han.

“With the soldier woman, I think,” answered Chewie.

Rey smiled. That cheeky grin. “Why didn't you list that among our assets in the first place?” She sighed. “What I wouldn't give for a Holocloak.”

“That we cannot help.”

Luke removed a black cloak from underneath his robes. “Would this do?”

Han’s eyes widened. “Where did you get that?”

“At Miracle Threepio’s. He said it fit Chewie so nice, we could keep it.”

“All right, all right,” cut in Rey. “Come on, help me up.”

Chewie and Han grabbed Rey by the armpits and lifted her up. Her head fell forward. Chewie lifted it back up. “Now I'll need a sword eventually,” she said.

“Why?” asked Luke. “You can’t even lift one.”

“True, but that’s hardly common knowledge, is it? I feel like I’ll be fine soon.”

Her head fell backwards. Chewie lifted it back up.

“Thank you. Now, there may be problems once we're inside.”

“I'll say,” said Luke. “Namely, how do I find the Sorcerer? Once I do, how do I find you again? Once I find you again, how do I escape?”

“Don’t pester her,” said Chewie. “She’s had a hard day.”

“Right, right. Sorry.”

They started to walk away from the battlement.

“Han?” said Luke.

“What?”

“I hope we win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: lights, camera, action!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

“You don’t look excited, Prince Finn.”

Finn recoiled at the touch of Sorcerer Palpatine’s hands on his shoulders. He’d been sitting at his dresser, getting ready for the ceremony, when the man had appeared out of thin air. Like a monster in a book. Finn jumped to his feet. He gazed at himself in the mirror. Finn looked good with all things considered, he thought, looking over the auburn and gold outfit he wore. His eyes found Palpatine’s in the mirror. A shiver ran down his spine. That man gave him the creeps.

“Should I be?” he asked.

Palpatine smiled. Horrifically. “World leaders often are, I’m told.”

Finn spun around. His golden cloak flicked with each movement. “I won’t sign that treaty, tonight. My Rey will come for me.”

With that, he walked away.

* * *

Outside the castle, Rey, Han, Chewbacca and Luke sat on the battlement overlooking the courtyard. Darkness had fallen. The four of them looked over the turrets. The hundred and twenty men were standing at the ready, defending the gate. No white armor gleamed in the dark. They weren’t Stormtroopers. They were the brute squad, hired at the last minute. The Resistance members and the peasants were waiting under the cover of night. Torchlight flickered. Nature held its breath, like it had that day in the ruins. All waited the battle.

Rey, Han, Chewbacca and Luke hid behind the turret. Han offered his hand. Luke put his over Han’s hand and Chewbacca put his paw above that. Laboriously, Rey managed to lift her arm and put her hand above them. She could feel her arms and legs, at least. Soon, she’d be able to walk. Maybe fight. If push came to shove.

She really hoped it wouldn’t.

* * *

Decorum sucked. That’s what Finn was telling himself at that moment.

King Kylo Ren had created an elaborate ceremony for the treaty’s signature. All the nobles of the Kingdom of Alderaan, those who had either survived the purge or allied themselves with him, were there, sitting on either sides of the aisle. Truthfully, this chapel looked more like a wedding venue than anything else. There were flowers and candles and banners with the Naboo and the Mustafar crests on the walls. It didn’t help that Finn was kneeling with Kylo Ren in front of a priest. Trumpets sounded, symbolising the beginning of the peace treaty. Finn clenched his jaw. Now was the moment.

“Mawwage!” said the priest. “Mawwage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam.”

Kylo Ren tensed. Finn felt sick to his stomach. What was going on?

“Sir, this is a peace treaty.”

The priest hit his forehead with his palm.

“Wight, wight! I fowgot. I mawwied too many people today. Sowwy.”

Orders echoed in the distance. 

“Stand your ground, men! Stand your ground.”

Finn bit down on a smile. Rey had come for him.

* * *

“Stand your ground!”

Hux gazed out into the courtyard. Darkness reigned supreme outside the castle. Mist swept in from nowhere, bringing a sudden chill to the summer air. General Hux gathered his cloak around himself. The lights of the torches couldn’t reach the tall figure appearing through the fog. The doors leading to the courtyard swung open. Still, the figure - more ghost than human, surely - glided through the air towards them.

“I am the Dread Pirate Vader! There will be no survivors! Many are here, I am here.” He paused and pointed at the brutes. “But soon, you will not be here.”

Some brutes stepped back. Hux pushed them forward.

“The Dread Pirate Vader takes no prisoners!” Hux slapped his own face. His eyes must be playing tricks on him. This couldn’t be possible! Fire sprouted from the fog. The apparition had caught on fire. “All your worst nightmares are about to come true!”

The brutes started to scatter. Hux tried to hold them back.

* * *

King Kylo Ren was about to smash that priest’s teeth in. Who had hired him again?

“And wove, twue fwiendwip, wiww fowwow you fowevah…”

Still, shouts echoed from outside the castle. King Kylo Ren’s hands curled into fists. Something was wrong. He hated - no, dare he say, he  _ despised  _ \- when something wasn’t going according to plan. He ignored Prince Finn’s smug grin and looked around the room. Where was Captain Phasma when he needed her? His eyes landed on Palpatine. King Kylo Ren gestured at him. Palpatine nodded. He snapped his fingers. All Stormtroopers in the room, all those in the castle, followed after him. Towards danger.

* * *

“The Dread Pirate Vader is here for your souuuuuuuls!”

The brutes scattered. Han smiled diabolically. Rey’s plan had worked. Of course it had worked! She  _ was  _ the masked woman after all. General Hux remained, alone in front of the closed gate. Looking scared and absolutely terrified.

* * *

Finn was barely listening anymore. Still, the priest pushed on:

“So tweasuwe youw fwiendwip…”

“Skip to the end,” cut in King Kylo Ren.

“Have you the tweaty?”

King Kylo Ren grabbed the treaty and put the quill in Finn’s hand. Finn smiled.

“Here comes my Rey now.”

* * *

Rey helped Chewbacca remove the flaming cloak. 

“Chewie, the portcullis!”

She turned toward the gate. Yes, it was closing! Chewbacca grabbed the portcullis with his bare paws. He gave out a roar of effort. He pulled the portcullis up to reveal a terrified-looking Hux. The man looked about to pee himself. Good. 

Let him be scared.

* * *

“Your Rey is dead,” said King Kylo Ren.

Finn arched an eyebrow.

“Then why is there fear behind your eyes?”

* * *

Luke propped Rey against his side as Chewie and Han gathered around Hux.

“Give us the gate key,” said Rey.

“I have no gate key.”

Luke grinned with all his teeth. What a terrible liar.

“Chewie,” said Han. “Rip his arms off.”

“Oh!” Hux offered his hand, which held the gate key. “You mean this gate key.”

* * *

“And do you, Pwince Finn…”

“Allies in the law!” cut in King Kylo Ren. “Say allies in the law!”

“Allies in the law.”

King Kylo Ren signed the treaty. Then, he grabbed Finn’s hand. He dropped the quill. Instead, he reached directly for the ink pot. He dropped ink on Finn’s hand and pressed it firmly against the treaty. Finn barely had the time to react.

The treaty was signed.

“Take the Prince to his room. I’ll be there shortly.”

“No!” Finn protested. “No, no wait!”

FN-2003 grabbed his arm. Finn let himself be brought to his room. He grew more sullen with each step. His eyes glazed over.

“The treaty’s signed. She didn’t come.”

At least Finn hoped his plan would work. That was the last bit of hope he could cling to.

* * *

The castle’s corridors were impossibly empty as they marched inside. Rey felt increasingly better. At least she could walk now. Propped up by Chewie. Somewhere outside, the Resistance had attacked some brutes who were fighting back and were otherwise occupied. It was only the four of them in these hallways. Han led the way as they turned around a corner. An army of Stormtroopers, walking behind the lightning-wielding man in the hooded cloak, Palpatine, turned at the opposite corner. They stared at each other. 

Until…

“What do you think you’re doing?” said Palpatine. “Attack!”

All the Stormtroopers stared at them. They stared back.

“Kill the dark one, the giant and the fool, but leave the fourth for questioning.”

Rey’s eyes widened. One of the Stormtroopers removed her helmet. She tossed it aside. The woman walked towards them, hands up.

“No, I won’t, Palpatine.”

“What? What is this?”

The woman pulled out a piece of parchment from a pocket on her hip.

“Prince Finn gave this to us this morning.”

Hope flared inside Rey. “You talked to Finn?”

The woman nodded. “He wrote this:  _ Stormtroopers! I’ve been watching you for the past few months. Yes, someone notices you. Someone notices that you were children taken from their families’ grasps. That you were never given names, only numbers. That you are treated with contempt and cruel discipline. This could have been me in another life. I do not wish this fate upon anyone, not even my worst enemy. _ ”

“Hear, hear!” said Luke.

“You shut up!” sneered Palpatine. To the Stormtrooper, he said: “You shut up too!”

The Stormtrooper was undeterred. “ _ The time is now to make a choice, Stormtroopers. Fight for those who diminish you, who insult you, who maim and hurt and terrorize you. Or you can fight for freedom. You can turn around. Fight for good. _ ”

Agitation grew amongst the Stormtroopers. Rey could easily read their expressions, no matter the helmets they wore. They all looked at each other. Some started to remove their helmets. Others looked confused. Or at least pensive. But they were thinking the same thing.

“What do you say, Stormtroopers?” said the woman.

Helmets fell to the ground. Swords followed.

“We’ll fight for freedom!” came someone else’s cry.

All cheered.

Palpatine sniffed.

“You pathetic lumps! Let me take care of you.”

Palpatine raised his hands. Rey heard Luke scream. A warning. Too late. Blue lightning struck the hallways’ walls. A long groan was heard. The ceiling caved in. Rocks fell on them. Chewie gathered Han, Rey and Luke around himself. The Stormtroopers backed away. Only Palpatine didn’t move. Soon, the dust had settled. The Stormtroopers were on the other side of the cave in, while Palpatine stood in front of them.

“Don’t worry!” said the woman on the other side. “We’ll go find the Resistance!” With that, the sounds of a few dozen footsteps echoed until all Stormtroopers were gone.

Silence weighed down on them. Luke stepped in front of Palpatine.

This was his moment, Rey knew it.

“Hello. My name is Luke Skywalker. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Palpatine stared. Then, he ran away. Down a perpendicular hallway, left open even though the ceiling had caved in. Luke ran after him. Leaving the three of them alone. Han looked up at Chewie. Chewie looked down at Han. Rey looked up at Chewie. Chewie looked down at her. Somewhere, a door slammed. Rey heard the sound of a body hitting wood. Again. And again. And again. And again. With unwavering determination.

“CHEWIE!!! I need you!”

Chewie gave Rey to Han. He growled. “Get her to the Prince.”

“Yes, sir.”

“He’s getting away from me, Chewie! Please! Argh!”

Chewie ran. Han walked them down another corridor. Rey heard a door break down. 

“Thank you!”

* * *

“Strange treaty,” said FN-2003.

“Yes, a very strange treaty,” said another Stormtrooper whom Finn didn’t know.

Finn stopped in the middle of a hallway. His heart sank even further into the pit of his stomach. He knew what he had to do. He’d have to write his mother about this. He’d failed her. He’d failed both his mothers. Like he’d failed Rey. 

Finn kissed FN-2003’s cheek over the helmet. 

“What was that for?” he asked.

“Because you’ve almost… except maybe for this morning, but I don’t really hold you accountable for that...” Finn put his tongue in his cheek. “Anyway… you’ve almost… always... been so kind to me. Letting me roam around freely.” He pondered whether he’d have to say the next thing aloud. Yes. Yes, he would. Rather matter-of-factly, he added: “And I won’t be seeing you again, since I’m running away tonight to live in exile.”

No one would want him, not even the Resistance, after he’d betrayed them all. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to disappear somewhere peaceful. He’d earned it.

“Won’t that be nice!” said FN-2003. He turned to the other Stormtrooper, his voice sounding gleeful. “He kissed me!”

* * *

Palpatine ran. Luke ran after him. He ran down a door and into a stockroom. Luke flew down a short flight of stairs. He couldn’t lose sight of that man. He just couldn’t. He ran. Into another hallway. Down a spiral staircase. Luke burst through the dining room. But just as he was about to face Palpatine once more, lightning hit him square in the chest. Luke was thrown in the air. His body slammed against a wall. He gasped. The smell of burned flesh filled his nostrils. Luke’s silver hand reached down upon his torso. There was a wound there. Large. Charred. He took in a shaky breath. Then another.

“Sorry, Father. I tried. I tried.”

“You must be that little brat I taught a lesson to all those years ago. Anakin Skywalker’s son. Simply incredible. Have you been chasing me your whole life, only to fail now? I think that's the worst thing I've ever heard. How marvelous.”

His father’s sword in hand, Luke stared at Sorcerer Palpatine.

* * *

FN-2003 left Finn with a nod and the two Stormtroopers walked away. Finn stepped in his bedroom. He wasn’t looking at anything other than his feet. His entire body shook and tears welled up in his eyes. He’d failed. He’d heard the caving in and presumed that had been what remained of his Stormtrooper rebellion. Now here he was. An ally to a monster. Finn sat down at his desk. He bit his lip. Then, he picked up his quill. Eyes shut tight, he lifted his quill. He was about to smash it against the desk when he heard:

“There’s a shortage of perfect quills in this world.” Her voice. That was her voice! But could it be? ‘Twould be a pity to damage yours.”

“Rey!”

He spun around. Finn’s heart swelled. She was there. She was alive! Lying on her back. On his bed. Finn’s chair crashed against the ground. He didn’t care. Finn jumped on the bed and wrapped himself around Rey. Holding onto her like he had at the bottom of the ravine. Not letting go an inch. At all.

She giggled when he started kissing her.

“Rey! Oh, Rey, love! Rey, why won’t you hug me?”

“Gently.”

“At a time like this, that's all you can think to say ‘gently’?”

Then, Finn realized something was wrong. Very wrong. Her head fell back with a  _ thud  _ against the bed. Finn frowned. “Rey?”

“Not that you guys aren’t charming or anything…”

Finn almost jumped to the ceiling. His head spun on his neck. There was someone else in the bedroom. Sitting in a corner. On a chair. 

“Solo?”

Solo rose up from his seat. If Solo was here, that meant Chewbacca wasn’t far behind. Did that mean… was Luke here? Solo leaned against the bed. 

“Escape now, kiss later.”

* * *

Luke pulled himself up. Slowly. Laboriously. But he was up.

“The Force be with me,” said Palpatine. “Are you still trying to win? You’ve got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. It's going to get you into trouble someday.”

Palpatine removed a sword from inside his cloak. He charged. Luke deflected the hit with a flick of his wrist. Palpatine tried again. Luke deflected once more. A slash at the head. Their blades met with a _ clang! _ of metal.

“Hello. My name is Luke Skywalker. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Luke started to walk forward. Palpatine took a few steps back. Luke fell against the table. He pushed himself up once more. A slash. Deflected. Their swords clashed. Once. Twice. Blood seeped through Luke’s robes. He’d been hit. On the arm. Still, Luke walked forward. He couldn’t give up now. He couldn’t. He repeated:

“Hello. My name is Luke Skywalker. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Palpatine’s attacks became desperate. Sloppy. Their attacks disturbed the tables and tore through the tablecloth. Palpatine, the man - nay, the creature - growled.

“My name is Luke Skywalker! You killed my father! Prepare to die!”

“Stop saying that!”

Clash. Again. And again. Luke’s sword poked Palpatine in the chest. Near his left armpit. Then, he poked the other side. Luke took the upper hand once more. Palpatine could only retreat, walking backwards faster and faster.

“Hello! My name is Luke Skywalker! You killed my father! Prepare to die!”

Luke raised his silver hand. Palpatine’s sword flew away. Out of his grasp. Luke put his father’s bloodied blade near Palpatine’s throat.

“Offer me money!”

“Yes!”

“Power, too. Promise me that!”

“All that I have and more! Please!”

“Offer me everything I ask for!”

“Anything you want.”

Luke plunged his sword in Palpatine’s chest. Through the heart.

“I want my father back, you son of a bitch!”

Palpatine’s body fell. Dead. Luke walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: duel of the fates.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

“Oh, Rey, will you ever forgive me?”

“What hideous sin have you committed lately?”

Solo’s huff made Finn pause. Finn had a feeling he knew what Solo wanted to say. Surely they could talk later? When they weren’t fearing for their lives in Kylo Ren’s castle? Besides, where was Chewie? Where was Luke? But Finn didn’t give much care to what Solo was thinking. He couldn’t keep a secret. Not from Rey.

“I signed the treaty. I didn’t want to. It all happened so fast.”

“Never happened.”

“What?”

“Never happened.”

Finn frowned, trying to decipher the meaning of those words in Rey’s eyes.

“Did you sign it with your name?” she asked.

“No. They just put ink on my hand and forced my handprint on there.”

“Then it didn’t happen. Wouldn’t you agree, Your Majesty?”

Finn looked up. He hadn’t even noticed… But yes. There he was. Standing in the doorway. King Kylo Ren.

“A technicality that will shortly be remedied. But first things first. To the death.”

“No.”

They all turned to Han. Han’s eyes turned to steel. “You’re my son, my oldest child and you won’t hurt these people. Promise me.”

“What should I promise you? You’re a traitor, like the lot of them!”

“Snoke put that in your mind, didn’t he?”

“I murdered Snoke. I wanted his throne, so I took it. Mustafar is under my control now. He was a liability, anyway. A weak old man. Just as you are. I’m going to start a war using Naboo’s troops whether you like it or not. I’ll conquer the world. I’ll succeed where all men have failed before me! And how can you say I’m your oldest child? She’s gone, Father! Realize that! She’s not coming back. And you’re going to join her!”

Kylo Ren lifted his sword above his head.

“No!”

Finn raised his hand. Kylo Ren fell onto his backside.

“You,” he said, sitting on the floor. “You traitor! You can use the Force!”

Finn reached out with the Force. Rey’s sword unsheathed itself from her scabbard and flew to his hand. He put himself between Kylo Ren and Solo. No way was he going to let the man die. No way was he going to let Kylo Ren hurt more people.

Not on his watch.

“That man’s life belongs to me,” said Kylo Ren, getting back up.

“Come get it.”

Kylo Ren spun his sword. Blades clashed. Finn pushed him outside the room with one kick. Away from Rey. Away from Solo. He needed to get him away from them. Their swords clashed. Finn didn’t let him win any inch. He slashed with all the strength he could bring up to the surface. He made Kylo Ren walk backwards until they were near a staircase. The grand staircase that lead to the courtyard. Finn slashed at Kylo Ren’s hand. 

Blood was drawn. 

Finn raised his hand. A distracted Kylo Ren flew backwards. He fell down the stairs, screaming as he went. Once at the bottom, Kylo Ren ran outside, into the courtyard. Finn jumped. He was lighter than air. Or maybe it was the air that was letting him through so easily. Finn landed at the bottom of the stairs. He ran after Kylo Ren.

Finn emerged into the courtyard, out of breath. 

Kylo Ren had stopped. He was surrounded. 

Surrounded by the Resistance. Mounted on Guarlaras. Holding swords.

“Hello, Ben,” said a woman after a long moment of tense silence.

“Mother.”

Queen Leia, then. 

“It’s over, Ren,” said Finn, walking towards him. “Give up.”

“Never!” Kylo Ren raised both his arms. The Resistance fighters were pushed off their Guarlaras. Kylo Ren spun towards Finn. “Come and fight me like a man!”

Their swords clashed.

* * *

One foot in front of the other. That’s it. That’s all he needed to do.

Luke put one foot in front of the other. One hand held his father’s sword while the other was pressed to his chest. Where the lightning bolt had hit him. He knew there would be a scar there. Another one to add to his collection.

Footsteps came from the hallway in front of him.

Luke lifted his sword.

“I’ll fight with my life if need be!”

A tall ball of fur turned the corner. Followed by the rebelling Stormtroopers.

“Chewie!”

Chewie growled. He grabbed Luke and held him against his hip.

“Thank you. I’ve never been more happy to see you.”

Chewie roared. “I’m happy to see you. Too.”

Luke laughed. “Always with the rhymes, my friend?”

“Until the very end.”

* * *

“Are you sure about this? You don’t seem ready to fight.”

Rey shook her head. She meant to do it positively, but it came out negatively. Oh well. 

“I’m sure. Get me down those stairs.”

Han half-carried her down the stairs. Rey gritted her teeth. One foot in front of the other. Baby steps. That’s the only thing they could do. If only her strength could come back quicker… she’d already be outside helping Finn by this point. 

“You know, kid,” said Han, “you’ve inspired me.”

“I have?”

“I’m the one who knew we’d need you in this fight. And we did.”

“Thanks.”

“No, really. I believe in you, okay? Keep up the good fight.”

“Thank you, Mr. Solo.”

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. 

“The name’s Han.”

“I know.”

* * *

Finn gripped his sword with both hands and protected his chest. Kylo Ren’s sword clashed against the blade. Finn stepped back. Backing away towards the castle’s gate. He stared down Kylo Ren from a few steps away. Finn breathed in. And out. Heavily.

“What is it, Prince Finn?” taunted Kylo Ren with a sardonic smile, his sweaty hair clinging to his forehead. “Feeling ready to give up, yet?”

“He’s no coward like you are, Ben!”

Finn turned his head to his right. Luke was there, looking worse for wear. Chewbacca held onto him tightly. Behind him, an army of Stormtroopers, their helmets off, followed. Four of them were holding General Hux and Captain Phasma, tied up tight. The woman to whom Finn had given his letter looked at him. They nodded at each other.

“Uncle Luke!” said Kylo Ren. “You don’t seem so fine.”

“Better than you’ll be.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“At least he won’t spend the rest of his life in jail,” answered her voice.

Finn looked behind him. There she was. Rey. Being held by Solo. Rey’s face opened wide in horror. She lifted her hand.

“Finn! Watch out!”

He blocked Kylo Ren’s strike at the last second. Kylo Ren spun his arm. Finn’s sword went flying. Kylo Ren wrapped his arm around Finn’s neck and put his blade to his throat.

“Nobody move! Or I kill him!”

“No!”

“Lando!”

It all happened too fast, too quickly. Finn would later learn the names of the Resistance fighters; for now, this is what happened next. Luke threw his father’s sword to Lando Calrissian. Kylo Ren raised his free hand at Luke and sent him flying into a wall. Luke fell. He didn’t get back up. Chewbacca roared as he knelt next to Luke. Making sure he was okay. Lando caught the sword and threw it at Poe Dameron. Lando went flying into a wheelbarrow full of hay. Poe grabbed the sword. He sent it skidding down the stone floor towards Paige. Poe went flying. Paige took the sword and threw it at their sister. Rose offered it to Jannah, who gave it to Zorii. Zorri kicked the sword towards Queen Leia. All three of them were sent flying by Kylo Ren’s Force push. Then, Queen Leia threw it in Rey’s direction. She was sent flying towards the farthest edges of the courtyard. 

Rey never caught the sword. It never made it to her.

Kylo Ren used the Force to stop it in mid-air. 

He was distracted. Finn slammed his foot against Kylo Ren’s shin. He broke free of their impromptu wrestling match and dived for his own sword. Finn crouched defensively, sword in hand. With a war cry, Kylo Ren sent Luke Skywalker’s sword flying. Blade first, it hit a wall. And shattered into a million pieces.

“NO!”

Finn pushed his sword up. It caught Kylo Ren’s. They stood there. At a standstill.

“FINN!”

He heard someone unsheathing a sword. Or maybe a knife. Finn turned his head slowly, oh so slowly, towards Rey. She was running towards him. Solo was looking at her in bewilderment, a hand at the spot where his boot ended. Rey had Solo’s knife in hand. Wait. Hadn’t she had trouble standing a second ago? Where had all that strength come from? It didn’t matter. What mattered was what she did next.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

Rey slashed at Kylo Ren’s face. He fell on his back. Open from cheek to opposing eyebrow. Kylo Ren breathed in and out. In and out. Loudly. Like a trapped animal. 

It was over.

Finn and Rey stood over him for a long second. Breathing. Just breathing. Then, with an impossibly exhausted sigh, Rey collapsed against Finn. She dropped her knife. He dropped his sword. His arms naturally wrapped themselves around her.

“Rey? Are you okay? Rey!”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Why does Rey need helping?” Finn asked Solo.

“Because she has no strength.”

“A woman with no strength slashed at my face?”

Kylo Ren spat on the ground. A blade was put against his chest. 

Finn and Rey looked up.

Queen Leia breathed out. Her face looked tired. So tired.

“It’s over, Ben. Admit it.”

A long moment followed. Kylo Ren’s body sank in defeat. He closed his eyes.

“Yes, Mother.”

“Tie him up.”

Soon enough, Kylo Ren was on his knees, tied up tight, next to General Hux and Captain Phasma. The Resistance fighters, the peasants and the Stormtroopers cheered. Finn managed to smile. It was over, truly over. Somewhere, someone gasped. Chewie groaned.

Luke.

“Master Luke?” asked Rey.

He got up. Slowly. With Chewie’s help.

“I’ll be fine.”

Finn breathed out in relief. Good. 

Luke’s face shattered in grief. “No! Oh, no!”

Using more strength than Finn thought was capable of, Luke ran. He ran past Kylo Ren and past Finn and Rey, towards a wall on the opposite side of the courtyard. Luke collapsed to his knees. His father’s sword. It had been destroyed in the fight.

“I’m sorry, Father. I’m so sorry.”

Luke buried his face in his hands. He started to sob. Solo walked past Finn and Rey. He pulled Queen Leia into a hug. Chewie, Lando, Poe, all the Resistance fighters, the peasants and the Stormtroopers, all hugged each other tight. Rey buried her face in the crook of Finn’s neck. Finn blinked back tears.

Then, something truly miraculous happened.

Fog rolled in from out of nowhere. A strange kind of fog, tinged blue. It wasn’t cold. It was warm. Somehow. Finn was immediately reminded of his mothers’ embrace on a cold winter’s night. This was what it felt like. Like coming home. Like being around those you loved, who didn’t want to let you go either. It felt like family.

Finn looked up. He stared.

There was a man at the gate. He was blue. Not in the way a non-human person would be blue. No, his skin wasn’t blue. His entire body was tinged with a blue hue. He wore robes, similar to Luke’s. When the man walked, he left no footprints in the dust. His long hair moved in the wind when no wind blew. He looked so young. Barely older than Finn himself. With long hair that made him look even younger. He blinked and Finn saw a scar over his right eye. When he walked past Finn, the man looked him in the eye. 

He smiled and nodded.

Finn nodded back. Something told him everything would be okay.

Queen Leia gasped. The Resistance fighters, the peasants, the Stormtroopers, Solo and Chewie all moved aside. The man reached down to cup Queen Leia’s face with both of his hands. One hand was made of gold. Not unlike his son’s. The man wiped away a tear from her cheek. Queen Leia smiled with all her teeth.

“Father,” she whispered.

“I’m so proud of you, Leia. You’ve grown so much.”

Anakin Skywalker kissed her forehead. Then, he walked towards Luke.

Luke was too caught up in his own grief. He was still hunched over himself, covered in his own blood. The ghost of Anakin Skywalker put a hand on his shoulder. Luke looked up. He gasped, eyes wide. Anakin’s blue hue reflected upon his eyes, his face, down Luke’s neck. Anakin knelt down opposite Luke. That same smile was on his lips.

“Stop crying for me, my son. You’ve avenged me. Now, it’s time to let go.”

“But… I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too. But you have to remember to live. Understood?”

Luke smiled. “Yes, Father.”

“Good. Now, let’s take a look at that sword, shall we?”

Anakin lifted both his hands. The pieces of Anakin’s - and therefore, Luke’s - sword lifted in the air. Light flooded from Anakin’s hands. Finn shielded his eyes. Once the light receded, the sword was whole once more. Luke took it with revering hands. He sheathed his sword and looked back at his father. Anakin put a hand on his shoulder.

“You did so much good, son. Now, live in peace.”

Anakin kissed Luke’s forehead. He disappeared in a flash of light.

Luke breathed out a shaky breath. He got to his feet and touched his chest with two hands, one of flesh and the other of metal. His wounds had been healed. He laughed. Everyone laughed with him. All except Kylo Ren, General Hux and Captain Phasma. 

Of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: denouement and epilogue.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for the notes at the end!

Chapter Fourteen

They were on their way to Naboo when the sun’s rays touched the waves of the sea.

Finn walked out into the early morning sun. The only ones on the deck were Kylo Ren - or Ben Solo, whatever his name was - tied together with Phasma and Hux against the mast of the main sail. Ren barely looked up at Finn. Finn ignored them as he leaned against the taffrail and breathed in the salty air. The open water stretched far into the horizon. 

Soon, he’d be home.

Home.

“Prince Finn?”

Finn looked behind him. Poe Dameron stood there. He didn’t look awkward. Poe Dameron never looked awkward, from what he’d heard about the man. Still, he stood there. Taking a deep breath, Poe walked forward, towards Finn. He put a hand in his pocket and took it out. Offering him…

“Your brooch. Your royal brooch. It served me well.”

Finn took it with a smile.

“That’s Mother’s. I’ll have to give it back.”

“It must mean a lot.”

“It does. She gave it to me before I left.”

Poe nodded. Well,  _ now  _ he looked awkward.

“I wanted to say thank you. For saving my life.”

“It was nothing.”

“It really wasn’t. You gave my son his father back and Snap his husband back.”

“Then I’m glad I’ve been able to help.”

Poe slapped him on the shoulder. Finn pulled him into a hug. Before it became awkward, Poe pulled back. With one last smack on the shoulder, he walked away, back inside the ship. Finn turned around, towards the horizon.

The sea was calm on this pleasant morning. How strange, to think of the sea as calm and peaceful. Had it only been a few days ago that he’d been on an open sea, kidnapped by people who would end up being his friends? All except Jabba, of course. That one could rot with Palpatine, for all he cared. Finn didn’t look behind him when he thought he’d heard footsteps upon the deck. Then, a hand gently squeezed his shoulder.

“Prince Finn? Do you know where Rey is?” asked Queen Leia. Solo - Han - was there with her. They were both in their night attire but looked like they hadn’t had much sleep. 

“We need to talk to her,” further explained Han. He looked at his son, then back at Finn. He looked uncomfortable. Something Finn had probably never seen him display. Awkwardness. “Didn’t get the chance last night. We were all too tired anyway.”

“She’s probably back at the cabin. Why?”

Someone yawned. “I feel so much better! Oh.”

They all turned towards Rey. Everyone stared at each other.

* * *

“What is it?”

“Come over here, darling,” said Queen Leia. 

Rey did as she was told. Of course she did. No one told Queen Leia ‘no’. From what she’d heard about the Leader of the Resistance, she was a kind but firm woman. Tense silence filled her ears. It was only broken down by the crashing of the waves against the ship’s hull. Rey sent Finn a glance. He replied with a reassuring smile.

“Yes?”

“Luke told us he had… suspicions about you.”

Rey frowned at that. She remembered that. He’d mentioned it. Way back when they’d been fighting on the ruins. It felt like a lifetime ago. Luke had tried to tell her something. That he thought she was… what? That he thought she was what?

Oh, right. She’d never let him finish.

“Suspicions? What kind of suspicions?”

Queen Leia’s voice sounded thick when she answered:

“That you may be our daughter Breha.”

_ Breha. _

Rey gasped. It felt like a punch in the face. Visions flooded her. Images flashing in her eyes. A mother. Leia. A father. Han. A brother. Ben. Kylo Ren. Favorite uncles. Luke, Lando and Chewie. The ones she’d seen in her dreams. In the Pit of Despair. Their faces appeared, clear as day. Then, more scenes appeared. Her sitting in Han’s lap as he sang in his terrible voice to her. Leia teaching her to play chess and how to crush her enemies. Luke teaching her how to sword fight with wooden swords. Lando showing her maps of the world, telling her wherever he wanted to take her one day. She remembered a little girl laughing. Clinging to Chewie’s shoulders. As he took her on a ride around their home.

Home.

She’d found her home.

“Rey? Rey!”

She blinked. Rey was back on the ship. Finn was holding her like he’d done yesterday in the castle’s courtyard. His arms felt like home, too.

Rey broke into tears.

“That’s my name! That’s… That’s my name!”

Arms found her. Not just Finn’s. Han’s and Leia’s too. Then, others joined them. She looked through her tears to see Chewie, Luke and Lando had walked out onto the deck. They were there, too. Holding onto her for dear life. They all fell to their knees, a mass of people on the deck of a ship. Rey tried to breathe. 

Just breathe.

* * *

Their ship docked in the Kingdom of Naboo soon after. And soon after, Finn found himself separated from Rey. Some rode Guarlaras, but others were put in a Guarlara-pulled carriage. He looked at her one last time before the carriage door closed behind her. He climbed upon Tivi’s back. His good girl rubbed her head against his torso. Finn laughed. Thinking back to Rey, Finn found himself smiling. He’d never come around to calling her Breha, even if that was her full name. There was a part of her that would always be Rey, the village girl taken in by the Lars family, the girl who desperately wanted to find out where she came from. Now he knew. She was Princess Breha Organa Solo Skywalker, daughter to Queen Leia and Han Solo, niece to Luke Skywalker.

But she’d always be Rey to him. And he knew, for she would tell him later, she’d never want him to call her anything else.

His Rey.

A parade welcomed the carriage and the Guarlara-riding guests into the streets of Theed. Confettis fell and crowds cheered when they rode past. The peoples of the kingdoms of Alderaan, Corellia and Kashyyyk, along with those from the City-State of Bespin, had been invited to participate in the celebrations and hundreds of ships had arrived that same morning to see their heroes in the flesh. Finn was the first down from his Guarlara when they stopped in front of the Palace. He didn’t care much for decorum. Instead, he ran up the steps at the top of which his mothers waited. Queen Vadessa’s illness had receded. She was getting better. That was all he needed to know when he collapsed into their awaiting arms. 

“My boy, my sweet, sweet boy,” whispered Queen Vadessa in his ear.

“I’m back home, Mother.”

“Safe,” pointed out Shandria. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

Finn stood proudly at their side when the carriage’s doors opened. He was surprised to see Rey run out first. She climbed the steps two at a time and stopped abruptly in front of the Naboo Royal Family, not even out of breath.

“Queen Vadessa!”

Mother smiled. “Yes, Rey?”

“I believe that’s yours.”

She put her hand in her pocket and offered the Queen… her royal brooch. Finn laughed and put his own out. The light of the sun caught on the brooches. Mother laughed.

“Thank you very much.”

The brooches disappeared amidst her skirts. She pulled Rey and Finn into a hug.

Then, a minute after her daughter, Queen Leia walked out, her long skirts covering her feet entirely. She climbed the steps, arm in arm with Han Solo. They had reunited upon the ship, brought apart by the terrible fate that had befallen their daughter. Their daughter was home and their son had been sent to jail until his trial. Most were certain he would never see the light again. That weight barely seemed to weigh down Queen Leia, though. He had made his choice, many years ago. Manipulated by an enemy who had taken advantage of his sister’s kidnapping. At first. Before he’d killed and maimed and tortured. That had been his full choice. Not the actions of another.

“Queen Leia of Alderaan,” said Queen Vadessa.

Both Queens bowed to each other. An offering of peace.

Peace. 

Finally. 

_ Peace. _

Treaties were signed, ushering their kingdoms into a new era of peace. The Palace doors were open to everyone who wanted to see the celebrations. Everyone who was anyone attended, but also many who weren’t considered “anyone” by Naboo’s high society. Nobles in lavish outfits shared their seats with the poorest peasants. Those who hadn’t fit inside the ceremonial chambers could stand outside, where someone was reading Queen Vadessa’s speech for peace. Not ideal, but a way to participate in the celebrations.

The Resistance fighters had some of the best seats. Finn smiled when he saw Poe Dameron sitting with his son Nathan in his lap and his husband Temmin by his side. Poe sent him a grateful nod, to which Finn answered with a smile. 

All the rebelling Stormtroopers were in attendance, sitting in a few rows behind Finn inside the gigantic chambers where the treaties were signed. Calls for help had already been sent out to find their long lost families throughout all the kingdoms. Soon, everything would turn out all right for them, too.

There were others who had been invited. Miracle Threepio and his husband Artoo were there, wearing their finest outfits. Maz was there too. She helped Lor San Tekka, who was walking with a cane, sit down next to her. They were some of the only survivors in their small village by the Dagobah Swamp. Those few others who had survived were there, including the woman with the axe and her daughter. The Lars, who had taken in Rey after she had been found, and those from the village in the Lake Country were there, smiling.

Feeling his heart full, Finn turned back to the ceremony at hand.

“To the peoples of Naboo, of Alderaan, of Kashyyyk, of Corellia, of Bespin, of Mustafar and of the world,” said Queen Vadessa, “I wish upon us a time of peace!”

A crowd of thousands jumped to their feet and clapped. Finn could feel it through his bones, through his very soul. He blinked back tears of joy. Gone were the days where he had to be a spy against Kylo Ren. Gone were the days when he thought Rey was dead. And gone were the days when war had waged inside these walls. 

They were free.

The peace treaty soon came to an end. But the celebrations were far from over. Throughout the day, Finn was at the mercy of his footmen. They made him sit for hours in a bath of lavender and rose petals, then they gathered around him, braiding his hair, painting the nails of his hands and toes, putting him in the most luxurious outfits he, as Prince, had ever worn. A coronet was put on top of his head. Finn hadn’t received such treatment since his mother’s coronation. Truthfully, he couldn’t complain. There was nothing in the world he preferred than the touch of Naboo silk under his fingertips.

Soon enough, Luke knocked on his door.

“You ready, Your Majesty?”

“It’s ‘Your Highness’,” he pointed out.

“Right! Right.”

Everyone was back in the ceremonial chambers by the end of the afternoon. The decorations had been changed. All turned to white. Flowers filled the air with their sweet scent. Finn stood at the aisle. He wrung his hands together. He’d gotten down on one knee and had proposed to Rey the night before. Rey had then tearfully done the same thing and showed him the ring she’d bought years ago, under the disguise of the Dread Pirate Vader. At that moment, nothing had mattered more than this: he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Five years without Rey had already been far too much. Besides, they would have talked marriage even if her memories hadn’t come back. Even if she hadn’t remembered she was born a princess. Peasant or not, he would’ve married her in a heartbeat. 

Han guided Rey down the aisle. He cried when he saw her.

Thankfully, this time no one hired a boring priest to preside.

“Marriage!” said the priest with enthusiasm. “Marriage is what brings us together today. Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream...”

* * *

The ceremony over, there was another change of clothes. And then a ball.

The last ball he’d ever been at, suitors had been thrown at him with desperation. Now here he was. A married man to the woman of his dreams. Hands clasped behind his back, Prince Finn stood in front of the tall glass windows that adorned the Royal Ballroom. Outside, billions of stars shone only for him. Lights twinkled, illuminating Theed’s millions of windows. He breathed in deeply. Enjoying this moment only for himself. An orchestra played music for the dancing nobles and peasants, mingling together once more. People clapped. People sang. People laughed and smiled and lived. Finn ignored them.

Tomorrow, he and his family - Mother, Mama, Queen Leia, Han, Luke, Lando, Chewie, Rey, the Lars, the Resistance, the Stormtroopers, Maz, Lor San Tekka, even Miracle Threepio and Artoo - all of them, those to whom he was grateful for, those who were born to his family or those who had quickly crept their way inside his heart - would be on their way to the Royal Family’s summer estate. Where it had all started. But that was tomorrow. For now, there was the night. 

“Enjoying yourself?”

He turned around. There she was. Rey. That resplendent smile of hers was on her lips. He looked her up and down, awed by her. She shone like a diamond in the chandeliers’ lights.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear a dress.”

“It’s not.”

She spun around. Revealing pants.

Finn burst out laughing. He brought her to him and she melted at his side. Finn wrapped an arm around her shoulders. His thumb rubbed her naked shoulder, at the hem of her glittering silver jumpsuit. They stood like that for a long moment, enjoying each other’s company in silence.

“It’s good to see you, Mrs. Parnelli,” he said.

“It’s good to see you too, Mr. Organa Solo Skywalker.”

They looked at each other and chuckled.

The Force be with them, they were still children.

Oh, but how things had changed since he’d found her on that raft, years ago.

“Finn?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For always being you.”

“I love you, Rey. Can you stay with me forever?”

She looked at him with a smile. “As you wish.”

Finn pulled her to him. Since the invention of the kiss, there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.

* * *

Postface

“The end.”

Grandpa put down the book. Jaina put down the pillow she’d been hugging. Still, something nagged at her. Beckoned at her. “I’m still curious about one thing.”

“Yes?”

“What happened to the Dread Pirate Vader?”

“The Dread Pirate Vader?”

“Yes, the Dread Pirate Vader! Did someone pick up the title? Finn and Rey are married, Luke, Lando and Chewie are uncles, the Lars look out for Rey, Han and Leia have found their daughter, Threepio and Artoo are retired, Poe Dameron has a son and husband…”

Grandpa scratched his cheek. “What if I said there hasn’t been another Dread Pirate Vader after Rey married Finn?”

“That’s kind of sad. Pirates are amazing.”

“Well, there hasn’t been one… yet.”

Someone knocked at the door. It slid open horizontally. Grandpa sprung to his feet. Jaina sat up in bed, legs dangling on the side facing the door.

“Papa! You’re here!”

Grandpa cleared his throat.

“How are you, King Finn?”

Papa smiled at Grandpa. “Pretty well, Han. The assassination attempt has failed. Ben will return to jail. And we’ll all be back on Naboo in no time.”

“Wait a minute!” said Jaina. She grimaced, crossing her arms over her chest. “Was that a lie, Grandpa? What you told me about your father reading this book to you? That was Mama and Papa’s story! Wasn’t it? I knew those names were there for a reason!” Before he could answer, she gasped. “Does that mean there hasn’t been a Dread Pirate Vader in years?”

He grinned. “What do you think?”

“Can I be the Dread Pirate Vader when I’m older? Please, please, pleaaaaase?”

Mama laughed. “You can be whatever you want when you grow up.”

“Before you become a pirate, you’ll have to rest, though,” said Papa, pointing at her.

Jaina climbed under her covers. “Yes, Papa.” 

Grandpa was about to leave the room. Jaina called after him. 

“Grandpa?” After putting on his hat, he turned around. She continued: “Maybe you could come over and read it again to me tomorrow.”

“As you wish.” 

With that, Grandpa left the room. 

The door closed behind him. And Jaina fell asleep. Dreaming of the _ Prince’s Bride. _

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the end of the journey that was The Prince's Bride. Thank you to all who commented, gave kudos, and read this. And thank you to all those who will comment, give kudos, and read it in the future. This was a lot of fun to write and I'm happy people enjoy it as much as I do!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day!
> 
> thevictorianghost


End file.
